Stroke is a significant public health issue. It represents the second cause of death globally and the third cause of death and disability combined. This study aims to evaluate stroke secondary prevention therapy prescribed at discharge. A retrospective analysis of patients admitted to Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital from the 15th of September 2023 to the 15th of January 2024. The prescription of secondary prevention therapy at discharge was evaluated according to American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines which recommends the prescription of antiplatelet therapy and high-intensity statins to all patients and antihypertensive treatment to patients with hypertension. Researchers reviewed 180 medical records, of those 164 were eligible who were aged 33-101 years (mean=65.5), and of those, 97 (55.7%) were male. Overall, 70.1% received appropriate secondary prevention therapy; 92.1% received antiplatelet therapy and statins; 78.0% received antihypertensive treatment. In contrast, 16.8% received high-intensity statins and only 11.1% of patients with atrial fibrillation received anticoagulants. There was no statistically significant difference between receivers and non-receivers of appropriate secondary prevention therapy with the exception of systolic blood pressure on admission (P: 0.038). In addition, the male patients (odd ratio (OR): 0.404; 95% CI 0.164, 0.995) were less likely to receive antihypertensive therapy. Our findings highlight the need for education programs to ensure optimal statin dosing and improve prescribing of antihypertensive medications, and anticoagulants on follow-up to reduce stroke-related morbidity and mortality.
Nassr et al. (Mon,) studied this question.