Subtypes of Ischemic Stroke in a Metropolitan City of South India (One year data from a hospital based stroke registry)

Limited data exists on the subtypes of ischemic stroke from the Indian subcontinent. The present study was aimed to investigate the frequency, spectrum and risk factors of various subtypes of ischemic stroke in a south Indian referral center. The study was conducted on consecutive patients of ischemic stroke, fully investigated to determine the underlying mechanism and enrolled in the stroke registry of Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences between Ist February 2000 to 31st January 2001. There were 282 men and 110 women (mean age 54 years; range 2-97 years). Of all ischemic stroke patients, 41%, 18%, 10%, 4%, and 27% were classified as large-artery atherosclerosis, lacunae, cardioembolism, other determined etiology and undetermined etiology respectively. The most notable difference of this registry from western registries was the predominance of intracranial rather than extracranial location of the large artery atherosclerosis. Hypertension, diabetes and smoking were the common risk factors among all the subtypes. Coronary artery disease and rheumatic heart disease were responsible for most of the cardioembolic strokes.