Transient ischemic attack and ischemic stroke, risk factors and preventive roles of the first contact physicians

OBJECTIVE: This study had been designed to find the relative frequency of each of ischemic stroke’s risk factors and to evaluate the action of the first contact physician for transient ischemic attack (TIA) cases.

METHODS: This study is a cross sectional study that enrolled 100 randomly selected patients with clinical and radiological diagnosis of ischemic stroke, who had attended Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq during the period between the 1st of January 2002 and the 1st of July 2002.

RESULTS: The patients’ age range was 40-79 years old (mean 63.57 years, SD 8.31, coefficient of variation 0.31). Forty-four patients (44%) were smokers, 34 patients (34%) were hypertensive, and 28 patients (28%) were diabetics. Of those under the age of 55, 78.6% had 2 or more risk factors. Positive history of TIA was observed in 28 patients (28%), 64.3% of whom (18 patients) had consulted a physician for their TIA symptoms and 35.7% of them had ignored their symptoms. Only 25% of those with positive history of TIA had been managed properly by the first contact physician. Thirteen patients (46.4% of those with history of TIA) had been treated with antithrombotic drugs.

CONCLUSION: Significant numbers of patients don’t worry about the symptoms of TIA and ignore it, another group are not subjected to full investigations to reach the cause and risk factors of TIA. Workshops are needed to increase education levels of the population about TIA and the modifiable risk factors of stroke.