The ethnic differences of stroke in Yakutia.

Background: In Yakutia, the morbidity and mortality from stroke increased in the past 2 decades. Stroke share in the total mortality structure increased significantly. According to the autopsies, haemorrhagic stroke (HS) was more common in indigenous patients.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine ethnic features of stroke patients of indigenous and non-indigenous ethnicity admitted to Regional Vascular Center (RVC), Yakutsk.

Design: The study used data from a hospital stroke registry, which took into account the cases of acute stroke in 2011. Stroke type and aetiology were determined by clinical examination, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging studies, cerebral angiography and ultrasound of cerebral vessels.

Results: A total of 1,108 patients were hospitalized (51.4% male, n=569) in 2011. The mean age was 60.5 ± 12.9 years, male: 59.1 ± 12.8, female: 61.9 ± 13.05. Five hundred and ninety-two ischemic strokes (IS; 53.4%), 236 HS (21.3%), 280 transient ischemic attacks (TIA; 25.3%) were diagnosed. Patients who had a stroke were divided into 3 groups according to their ethnicity: native (n=411; 49.6%), Russians (n=347; 41.9%) and other nationalities (n=70; 8.5%). When comparing the incidence of HS in different ethnic groups, it was found that indigenous patients had more cases of HS than Russians (38% vs. 20.2%, p<0.05; adjusted odds ratio=2.42; 95% confidence interval: 1.72-3.41). Mean age of IS and HS indigenous patients had no significant differences compared with the average age of Russian ethnicity patients (p=0.69; p=0.201, respectively).

Conclusions: The data from this study suggest that among the patients who suffered from stroke in the indigenous population, the share of a haemorrhagic form was higher than those of non-indigenous Caucasians. At the same time, the average age of patients, both having IS and HS had no significant differences by ethnicity. Further studies are needed to establish the causes of ethnic differences of stroke in Yakutia.