• Fahmi Yousef Khan, Mohammed Yasin, Mohammed Abu-Khattab, A Haleem El Hiday, Mehdi Errayes, Abdu Kaed Lotf, Abdulsalam Saif Ibrahim, Mushtak Talib Abbas, Issa Matar, Musaad Alsamawi, and Hassan Alhail.
• Department of Medicine, Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar. fakhanqal@yahoo.co.uk
• J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2008 Mar 1; 17 (2): 69-78.

BackgroundStroke is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Qatar.ObjectivesThe aim of our study was to determine types of strokes, the associated risk factors, clinical presentation, outcome, and time to hospital admission among Qatari and non-Qatari patients as well as young and nonyoung patients.MethodsWe conducted a hospital-based prospective observational study including all patients admitted to Hamad Medical Corporation with first-ever stroke from September 15, 2004, to September 14, 2005. A stroke was defined according to World Health Organization criteria.ResultsStroke was confirmed in 270 patients of whom 217 (80.4%) had ischemic stroke and 53 (19.6%) had hemorrhagic stroke. Male patients predominated in all types of stroke. The main risk factors for stroke were hypertension and diabetes, whereas lacunar infarct was the most common subtype of ischemic stroke. Risk factor profiles were similar between Qatari and non-Qatari patients except for hypercholesterolemia, which was observed with a higher frequency in Qatari compared with non-Qatari patients with ischemic stroke. There were significant differences between the young and nonyoung patients with ischemic stroke with respect to risk factors, ejection fraction, ventricular wall-motion abnormalities, time to hospital admission, and outcome. Most patients arrived at the hospital more than 3 hours from stroke onset because of unawareness of stroke symptoms. The overall in-hospital mortality was 9.3%.ConclusionsHypertension and diabetes mellitus were the main risk factors for stroke in Qatar, whereas lacunar infarct was the most common subtype. Significant differences between the young and nonyoung patients were observed with respect to risk factors, ejection fraction, ventricular wall-motion abnormalities, time to hospital admission, and outcome.

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