Prevalence and risk factors of stroke in Bangladesh: A nationwide population-based survey

A paucity of high-quality epidemiological survey on stroke in Bangladesh emphasizes the need for a drastic effort at the national level to study the burden of stroke in Bangladesh. Therefore, this community survey was conducted with to estimate the prevalence of stroke and its associated common risk factors among Bangladeshi population.

This was a population-based cross-sectional study, carried out in 8 administrative divisions and 64 districts to estimate the prevalence of stroke throughout the country. The study adopted a two-stage cluster random sampling approach. The calculated sample size was 25,287. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to identify suspected stroke patients who were subsequently confirmed by consultant neurologists.

In the first stage, a total number of 25,287 respondents were interviewed throughout the country. Interviewers identified 561 respondents as suspected stroke through the Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke Free Status (QVSFS) system in 64 districts. Of the 25,287 respondents 13,878 (54.9%) were male and 11,409 (45.1%) were female. Mean age was 39.9 years. In the second stage, all suspected stroke cases (561) were further examined by neurologists and finally 288 patients were confirmed as stroke which provided a prevalence of 11.39 per 1000 population. The highest stroke prevalence (14.71 per thousand) were found in Mymensingh division and lowest (7.62 per thousand) found in Rajshahi division. The stroke prevalence varied in different age groups. It was 30.10 per thousand in the age group of >60 years and 4.60 in the age group below 40 years. The prevalence of stroke among male was twice that of female (13.62 versus 8.68 per thousand). The prevalence was slightly higher in rural areas (11.85 versus 11.07). About 50.4% respondents had some idea about stroke.Out of a total of 288 cases, 79.7% (213) patients had an ischemic stroke, 15.7% (42) had hemorrhagic, and 4.6% (12) were diagnosed as subarachnoid hemorrhage. The majority of the stroke patients had hypertension (79.2%), followed by dyslipidemia (38.9%), tobacco use in any form (37.2%), diabetes (28.8%), ischemic heart disease (20.1%).

We have found a stroke prevalence of 11.39 per 1000 population, the highest being in the Mymensingh division. The prevalence was much higher in the elderly and male population. More than three fourth had an ischemic stroke. Hypertension, dyslipidemia, tobacco use, diabetes, ischemic heart disease are the most common risk factors observed among stroke patients.