TITLE:
Stroke in Young Women: Experience of the Neurology Department of Ignace Deen Hospital, Guinea
AUTHORS:
Mohamed Tafsir Diallo, Souleymane Djigué Barry, Mohamed Lamine Touré, Idrissa Doumbouya, Souleymane M’Bara Diallo, Djeinabou Négué Barry, Mohamed Traoré, Karinka Diawara, Laila Touré, Mariama Boubacar Diallo, Aliou Talibé Diallo, Mamadou Diallo, Fatoumata Kesso Diallo, Fodé Abass Cissé, Amara Cissé
KEYWORDS:
Stroke, Young Women, HIV, Conakry
JOURNAL NAME:
Neuroscience and Medicine,
Vol.16 No.1,
March
3,
2025
ABSTRACT: Introduction: The prevalence of stroke is increasing among women of working age. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical, and prognostic aspects of stroke in young women in Guinea. Material and Methods: This was a prospective study of one (1) year duration at the Neurology Department of Ignace Deen Hospital in Conakry on women aged between 15 - 50 years who had a stroke confirmed by brain imaging. Epidemiological, clinical, para clinical and prognostic characteristics were collected. Results: In this study, 58 patients were included, with an average age of 43.3 years. The most common risk factors were hypertension (72.4%) and HIV (37.9%). The average NIHSS was 9.9. According to the type of stroke, 39 patients (67.2%) had an ischemic stroke; among them, 10/39 patients (25.6%) were due to infectious source, 12/39 patients (30.8%) had an undetermined source, 8/39 patients (20.5%) had embolic heart disease, 5/39 patients (12.8%) had small vessel disease due to hypertension, 3/39 patients (7.7%) had sickle cell disease. Intracerebral hemorrhage was found in 12 patients (20.6%). 6 of these patients (10.3%) had hypertensive microangiopathy as the etiology. Four patients (6.9%) had subarachnoid hemorrhage, of which 3 patients were due to ruptured aneurysms. Three cases (5.2%) of cerebral venous thrombosis were noted. Complications were inhalation pneumonia (27.6%) and urinary tract infections (19%). Seven cases (12.1%) of death were recorded, 5 of which were in hospital, the other two patients between 1 and 6 months. The average modified Rankin Score (mRS) at 6 months was 3.1, and 16 patients (27.6%) had a favorable outcome (mRS Conclusion: Stroke in young women is responsible for high morbidity and mortality and requires control of risk factors to reduce its incidence. Infectious causes were dominant in this study, with a high proportion of patients living with HIV. Strengthening awareness campaigns screening and the treatment of these infections and cardiovascular risk factors would reduce the occurrence of stroke in this population.