An epidemiological characterization of patients with acute stroke in a single Chilean hospital using diagnosis-related group registers

INTRODUCTION: Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability in Chile. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of stroke in our hospital unit (Complejo Asistencial Víctor Ríos Ruiz). METHODS: We performed an observational, cross-sectional study. We included patients who were discharged from our hospital with a diagnosis of stroke between 2014 and 2017. We extracted data on stroke-related ICD codes, demographic variables, types of stroke, case fatality rates, and hospital stay. Quantitative variables were expressed as averages with standard deviation (± SD), and categorical variables were expressed as absolute and relative frequencies. Differences were analyzed using Student t-distribution and ANOVA. We defined a p-value of < 0.05 as statistically significant. RESULTS: In total, 1856 patients were discharged of which 58.6% were male, with an average age of 66.9 (± 13.9) years, and an average stay of 10.4 (± 16.7) days. In the female population, the average age was 69.9 (± 16), and the average hospitalization was 11.1 (± 16.5) days. 55.5% of stroke cases was ischemic, and 17.4% was hemorrhagic. The main risk factors were hypertension (72%) and type 2 diabetes (33%). We found an overall in-hospital case fatality rate of 10.6%. Both the case fatality rate and prolonged in-hospital stay were associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage and hemorrhagic stroke (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of stroke is similar in both men and women. Hypertension was the leading risk factor associated with acute stroke. Although ischemic stroke was the most frequent diagnosis, both subarachnoid hemorrhage and hemorrhagic stroke were related to an increased case fatality rate and a more extended hospital stay.