Cerebrovascular Diseases and Associated Risk Factors in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Countries

Background: In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region, nearly one million deaths are caused by cardio-vascular diseases every year. During the last decade, the number of deaths caused by stroke increased by 23%. Most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing behavioural risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and metabolic risk factors like obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and raised lipids.

Methods: This is a systematic review on cerebrovascular diseases and associated risk factors in WHO Eastern Mediterranean countries. Medline, Science Direct, and other sources were used to get peer reviewed papers dealing with the review theme. The search was limited to publications between 1990 and 2013 (30th June).

Results and Discussion: According to the inclusion criteria, 45 papers were included in the present review. The prevalence was found greater than 50% in 38 studies for hypertension, greater than 25% in 36 studies for diabetes, greater than 15% in 26 studies for smoking and greater than 25% in 19 studies for dyslipidemia. It was also indicated that incidence of stroke increases with ageing. The majority of studies found a prevalence of stroke higher in men than in women with a ratio male: female reaching 3.55:1 in one study.

Conclusion: Although at different levels of importance, all the studies reveal that hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and smoking are crucial risk factors for stroke. This review also indicates a lack or scarcity of studies in many countries with an uneven contribution by country since 33% of studies are from Pakistan whereas North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia) contributed with only 2 papers.