Systemic disorders and the prognosis of stroke in Congolese patients: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death, disability, and dementia in developing countries. Our study aimed to evaluate the systemic disorders associated with mortality in patients admitted within 72 hours of the initial stroke event. Setting: The study took place at a tertiary hospital in Kinshasa. Participants: Patients admitted within 72 hours of the initial stroke event. Interventions: This cross-sectional study consisted of a retrospective review of stroke patient records from January 2016 to December 2018. The Pearson-Chi square test and odds ratios were calculated with a threshold of significance of 0.05. Main outcome measures: Mortality Results: We recruited 114 cases. The mean age was 61.8 } 2.4 years, and the sex ratio was 1.78 in favor of men. Hypertension (76.3%), dyslipidemia (71.1%), and diabetes mellitus (58.8%) were the most frequent comorbidities. Most patients had hypoxia (85.9%), hypertension (82.4%), hyperglycemia (57.8%), and fever (28.1%). We registered thirty-two deaths (28.1%): 20 (62.5%) from the ischemic strokes, and 12 (37.5%) from hemorrhagic strokes. Systemic disorders with the worst prognosis during were arterial hypotension (OR=3.87, p >0.001), and fever (OR = 1.56, p = 0.047). Conclusion: Arterial hypotension and fever adversely affect stroke patient outcomes, and strokes are responsible for high mortality in Congo.