Shafi Ullah1 and Imran Khan2*
Stroke is an acute vascular event occurs within the brain, one of the frequent cause of disability and leading cause of mortality around the world. Stroke incidence declines in West population while continuously increasing in South Asia. The present study was conducted in Saidu Teaching Hospital (STH), Saidu Sharif Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The purpose of the study is to determine the risk factors, epidemiology, prevalence and evaluation of medication trends and drug-drug interactions prescribed to stroke patients on a specially designed questionnaire. Determination of risk factors is important in understanding treatment and pathogenesis of stroke. Data was collected from 15 October 2011 to 15 January 2012.Twenty seven patients were included in the study. Out of 27 patients, there were 17 (62.96%) male and 10 (37.03%) were female. Age range of the patients was 52-80 years (mean ± SD 64.51 ± 6.74), and the most predominant age range was 60-70 years. The risk factors identified were hypertension 77.77%, recurrent stroke 77.66%, smoking 29%, diabetes mellitus 22.22%, past smoking history 22.22%, ischemic heart disease 11.11%, atrial fibrillation 3.7%, obesity 7.4% and use of warfarin or heparin 3.7%. The therapy was satisfactory at ward level, but in some cases drug-drug interactions were observed. Our finding shows that there is little knowledge regarding stroke-related risk factors; Hypertension, smoking and diabetes. Special management is needed at the time of discharge of patients about the therapy and related risk factors and prescription errors should be minimized by involvement of clinical pharmacist at ward level.