World Stroke Day took place on 29th October this year with the theme #precioustime, to raise awareness of the signs of stroke with the key message that identifying a stroke early can be crucial to recovery outcomes.
Charles Nii Kwade Ofei-Palm 1, Anthony Osei 2, Henry Obuobi 3, Daniel Ankrah 4, Kwame Ohene Buabeng5
1 Lions International Eye Centre (LIEC), Pharmacy Unit, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana;
2 Drug information Unit, Pharmacy Department, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana;
3 OctaneDC Limited, Accra. Ghana
4 Pharmacy Department, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana
5 Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana
In celebration of World Stroke Day and to raise awareness at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mr Ofei-Palm and the team decided to investigate the case fatality for stroke patients in their hospital in the year 2007.
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is located in the Ablekuma District of Accra, Ghana. Founded in 1923 its name means ‘the valley of the Korle Lagoon’.1,2 After gaining teaching hospital status in 1962, it has now become the largest teaching hospital in Ghana, with a bed capacity of 2,000 and is the third biggest hospital in Africa.1, 2
“Stroke was the third leading cause of admission to our hospital in 2007” explained Mr Ofei-Palm, President of the Korle Bu Senior Staff Association, “not only this, but it was also the leading cause of death in our hospital that year.”
Mr Ofei-Palm, President of the Korle Bu Senior Staff Association
On assessing demographics of their patients, the team found the highest prevalence of stroke in middle-aged groups: “In terms of age we saw that most of our admissions were in those below the age of 65 and our highest stroke admission rates were seen in those between the ages of 45 and 54.” said Mr Ofei-Palm
They also looked at the differences in survival of their admitted patients across two of their wards: the Surgical and Medical Emergency Department and the General Medical Wards.
Care across the different general medical wards was largely similar, but they found differences in emergency department and general medical care. “In the year 2007 overall case fatality at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital was higher in the Surgical and Medical Emergency Department than in the General Medical Wards”. said Mr Ofei-Palm. The team hope to use their research to raise awareness of stroke in all departments of the hospital and hope it will support a case for extra medical funding for the Stroke unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
References
1 https://kbth.gov.gh/brief-history/
2 https://www.moh.gov.gh/korle-bu-teaching-hospital/
Achieving our vision of a life free from stroke is a task that WSO cannot achieve alone. We are committed to building our partnerships at the global, regional and national level to scale up and deliver improvements in prevention, treatment and support to reduce the burden of stroke.
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