Stroke related studies in Nepal are primarily hospital-based and mainly from the capital city.
We aimed to estimate the prevalence of stroke and stroke risk factors in the South-Western community of Nepal.
A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to August 2018 among 549 randomly selected Nepalese participants from diverse ethnicity, aged ≥15 years, in a region with the availability of neurological support facilities. Data were collected using a stroke questionnaire designed for the purpose. Stroke was identified by enumerators using the Balance-Eyes-Face-Arms-Speech-Time (BEFAST) scale, and a senior neurologist confirmed it. We assessed the presence of major risk factors associated with stroke.
The crude and age-standardised prevalence of stroke were 2368 and 2967 per 100,000 respectively. Of all the surveyed participants, 61% (n=335) reported consumption of full-fat dairy products >3 days per week, 87.6% (n=481) reported a high intake of salt (>5 g/day), 83.6% (n=459) with a low intake of fruits and vegetables (<400 g/day), 45.2% (n=248) with perceived stress related to work or home, 51.6% (n=283) with financial stress (283, 51.6%), 86.7% (n=457) with low high-density lipoprotein, 96.2% (n=507) with high blood urea nitrogen, 47.1% (n=356) were either overweight or obese 20.4% (n=112) with hypertension and 6.2% (n=34) with diabetes.
The prevalence of stroke in the community of the South-Western part of Nepal is relatively higher than that estimated in South-Asia and global context. Our findings suggest an urgent community intervention, particularly with healthy lifestyles changes for future stroke prevention in the high-risk group.
Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About The Expert
Lekhjung Thapa
Shakti Shrestha
Rashmi Kandu
Mahesh Raj Ghimire
Sulochana Ghimire
Navin Kumar Chaudhary
Bishnu Pahari
Suman Bhattarai
Ghanshyam Kharel
Raju Paudel
Pankaj Jalan
Avinash Chandra
Subash Phuyal
Bhojraj Adhikari
Nirmal Aryal
Om P Kurmi
References
PubMed