RIYADH, 5 January 2005 — The Prince Salman Center for Disability Research (PSCDR) has found out that stroke is the most common cause of disability in rich societies and its prevalence in the Kingdom is expected to rise with the noted increase in average life expectancy and the incidence of both diabetes and obesity.
“This will definitely create a sizable load of numerous stroke-related disabilities on available health services,” said Waleed Al-Deaigy, PSCDR assistant executive director of public relations and media affairs.
The findings were announced after the completion of a study entitled “Clinical Epidemiology of Stroke-Related Disabilities and Associated Risk Factors,” with Prof. Abdelrahman Al-Tahan as team leader.
The aim of the study was to assess the outcome of stroke over one year, and describe in detail different features of resulting disabilities in the Saudi population. The research also studied the quality of life in affected patients, the standards of medical services available to them, and the value of home visits in improving their quality of life.
The study was also expected to provide sound recommendations for future planning.
The study included 75 patients above 14 years of age, with first clinical stroke, from different centers in Riyadh.
Extensive demographic and clinical data as well as results of relevant investigations were obtained from each patient and follow-up home visits were done by an experienced general practitioner who offered basic medical consultations and obtained feedback on the value of these visits.
“We used various clinical instruments in this study including the Scandinavian Stroke Scale, Modified Barthel Index, and Mini-mental State Examination, in addition to relevant questionnaires on quality of daily living and standards of medical care,” Prof. Al-Tahan said.
He said that the study has shown that 70 percent of the patients were above 50 years old (66 percent males and 34 percent females), 55 percent were hypertensive, 51 percent were diabetics, 18 percent smokers, and 10 percent with cardiac disease.
“So far, results indicate a probable significant difference of stroke risk factors which include the occurrence of diabetes (51 percent) in comparison with Western reports of less than 30 percent.
In addition, the majority of patients (80 percent) received physiotherapy reflecting adequate standards of stroke care in admitting hospitals,” Prof. Al-Tahan said.
The other members of the team included Dr. Talaat Al-Waznah, Dr. Abdulgafour Al-Aqeel, Dr. Suleiman Al-Shammari, Dr. Walid Khoja, Prof. Saad Al-Rajeh and Dr. Mohammed Eshri.
