OBJECTIVE: Stroke or cerebrovascular accident is an acute focal neurological deficit that lass for 24 hours due to disturbances in cerebral blood flow. It is a medical emergency which occurs commonly in elderly patient. According to WHO, 15 million people worldwide suffer from stroke each year.In India incidence of stroke is 145/100,000 per year during 2003-06. One in six people suffer from stroke in their life time. Our present study accessing the risk factors, symptoms and prescribing patterns for the better choice of one drug over the other. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted in the medicine department of viswabarathi hospital, Kurnool, AP . Required demographic and laboratory data, along with general neurological evaluation and brain CT was analyzed. RESULTS: In our study the incidence of ischemic stroke (83%) was more when compared to hemorrhagic stroke (29%). prevalence of disease was high in the age group of 56-65. Males are mostly affected than females due to risk factors like hypertension (61%), diabetes(28%), smoking (21%), alcohol (16%). Anti coagulants (78%) were most commonly used drugs where as nootropics are least commonly used drugs (6%). CONCLUSION:The present study emphasizes on the need to identify risk factors and providing awareness among the patients by a pharmacist in minimizing the disease burden. It also points the rationality in prescribing of drugs based on therapeutic guidelines.
