The socioeconomic profile of patients hospitalized with stroke

Abstract

It is growing the number of people with stoke and it is important to perform studies with this population. The aim of this research was to analyze the socioeconomic factors that occur in patients who are hospitalized due to stroke. This work was done with 91 patients with stroke, in a hospital in Fortaleza. The data was collected within the period of October 2007 and April 2008, through a form. The ischemic stroke appeared as the most frequent (42.9%) and the average age was over 60 years of age. The majority of these patients was female (54.9%), pensioners (59.3%), Catholics (87.9%), lived with a partner (54.9%) and were from the country side (59.3%). As for educational level and income, the average was of 1.0 year. There was no difference found on the socioeconomic profile related to the type of stroke. The conclusion was that those patients had precarious socioeconomic conditions and that this may contribute to the emergence and aggravation of the disease.