Analysis of hospital-based stroke registry in a neurological centre in Kolkata.

This was a retrospective analysis of 7-year (January 1995-December 2001) hospital-based in-patient medical records of stroke cases (subarachnoid haemorrhage excluded) who arrived from various parts of West Bengal. The total number of cases was 801 out of whom 792 had neuro-imaging. There were 399 caes of intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) and 393 cases of cerebral infarct (CI). The CI: ICH ratio was 0.98. Less than 25% patients reached hospital within 3 hours of stroke onset. Twenty-nine per cent of cases presented with mild stroke (Canadian stroke score > 8.5). Hypertension was observed in 77.3% of ICH cases. The striking finding of this study was a remarkably high number of ICH among the admitted patients. This indicates the need of population-based studies to be conducted at different parts of West Bengal to determine whether them is truly a high prevalence and incidence of ICH in this Indian state.