PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS FOR ISCHEMIC STROKE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

Background. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide and the third leading cause of long-term disability in adults. In law enforcement officers, stress may contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease, exacerbating a number of stroke risk factors. Aim. Study of prevalence and identification of leading risk factors for ischemic stroke in law enforcement workers. Material and methods. A retrospective analysis of case records of patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, acute insufficiency of cerebral circulation and transient ischemic attack who received treatment in the Republican Hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan from 2016 to 2020 (n=1864) was performed. Of these, 225 case records of patients with a concomitant diagnosis of ischemic stroke [(12,07±2,2)%] were selected. We studied such pathological conditions as transient ischemic attack, hypertensive cerebral crisis and chronic forms of cerebrovascular disease as risk factors for stroke. Results and discussion. We found that there were 81 [(36,0±3,2)%] cases of cerebrovascular disease among the 225 examinees, including 64 [(28,44±2,9)%] established and 17 [(7,56±3,6)%] probable cases of cerebrovascular disease. Acute forms of cerebrovascular disease often occurred together with chronic forms. (6,98±3,2)% of patients aged 40–54 years (n=129) and (17,70±3,9)% of patients aged 55–65 years (n=96) had discirculatory encephalopathy. There was a total of 6 cases of transient ischemic attack [(2,67±1,4)%] in the patients examined, of which 2 cases [(0,89±1,2)%] were «definite» and 4 cases [(1,78±0,9)%] were «possible». The overall prevalence of transient ischemic attack in patients was (2,67±1,4)%. In 75,0% of the cases detected, transient ischemic attacks were registered predominantly once. Out of the total number of all detected cases of transient ischemic attack, 4 (66,67%) cases were registered for the first time upon history taking. Arterial hypertension was registered in 198 of 225 [(88,0±2,1)%] patients examined. Hypertensive crisis during ischemic stroke was detected in 14 of 225 patients (6,22% of all patients examined) and in (17,68±2,7)% of patients with arterial hypertension (34 patients). Additionally, there were 15 [(6,67±3,83)%] cases of hypertensive cerebral crisis: 5 (2,22%) established cases of hypertensive cerebral crisis and 10 [(4,44±2,80)%] «possible» cases. Conclusion. A comprehensive study of the clinical features, course, and complications of ischemic stroke will allow us to develop new approaches to solve the urgent research problem, which is the management strategy to be applied to patients in the acute period of ischemic stroke.