Hypertension among Young Adults with Ischemic Stroke of a Tertiary Care Centre in Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Ischemic strokes in young patients have been increasing. Younger patients with ischemic stroke tend to have a different long-term prognosis than older patients. Young patients who have residual neurological deficits following ischemic stroke affect their quality of life. This study was carried out to find out the prevalence of hypertension among patients with ischemic stroke in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in all the patients who were admitted with young ischemic stroke in the Department of Neurology, Nobel Medical College Biratnagar from December 2019 to December 2020 after taking ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee (reference number: 332/2019). Convenience sampling was done and data was collected, entered in Microsoft Excel, and analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Science software version 16. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Out of the total patients with ischemic stroke in the young adults 30 (40%) (95% Confidence Interval= 28.91-51.08) had hypertension. During follow-up at 6 months, 20 (66.7%) of the patients with hypertension had favorable outcomes with a Modified Rankin Score of 0 or 1. Death during a hospital stay or during follow-up was observed in 2 (7%) of patients with hypertension. Mean age of the patients was 40 +/- 4.87 years. Most patients were in the age range of 36-45, 24 (80%). Conclusions: Prevalence of hypertension among young patients with ischemic stroke was high compared to other studies.