A Study on the Assessment of Severity of Stroke Patients at an Indian Tertiary Care Hospital

Aim: To assess the severity of stroke by using the NIH stroke scale among the ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients. Materials and Methods: Patients who were newly diagnosed with stroke were included in the study. All the demographics of the patient were collected by using a data collection form and the severity of the stroke was assessed by using the NIHSS questionnaire. According to this questionnaire, the severity of the stroke was classified into minor (0-4), moderate (5-15), moderate to severe (16-20) and severe (21-42). Results: Among the 150 patients involved in the study 107 (71.3%) were found to be males and 43 (28.7%) were found to be females. In this study, the patients with ischemic stroke were observed to be 97 (64.7%) where as the patients with hemorrhagic stroke were 53 (35.3%). Hypertension (40%) was the most common co-morbidity observed in this study The severity of the stroke in majority of the patients were observed to be severe (40.7%) followed by moderate severity (35.3%). Conclusion: In this study, ischemic stroke was more prevalent when compared to hemorrhagic stroke. Hypertension is the most common co morbidity observed. According to the NIH stroke scale assessment, the severity of the most of the study participants was observed to be severe followed by moderate in this study. Clinical pharmacists should create awareness among the general public regarding the negative consequences of the stroke and also should suggest the life style modifications which may increase the quality of life of the stroke patients.