Stroke is a well-known a leading cause of death and disability in the Middle East. There remain many knowledge gaps in evaluating the prevalence of risk factors among patients with stroke in the Middle East. Unravelling the impact of these risk factors and controlling them can positively lower the incidence of stroke. Disparities in stroke risk factors, may well be related to ethnicity of the Middle Eastern populations , will be compared with those among stroke patients in the western literature.
These clinically relevant issues have not been studied extensively in the Middle East where most of the studies in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease have focused on acute coronary syndrome more than stroke. Exploring new information on risk factors of stroke in this region that helps fill some of the knowledge gaps.
Stroke has been attributed, in the majority of cases, to the traditional four standard modifiable risk factors of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cigarette smoking. However, ethnicity and geography account for the interregional differences of the prevalence of risk factors in patients with stroke.
The Jo-SMMART ill evaluate risk factors in 2000 stroke patients in Jordan as a representative of the Middle Eastern population, the prevalence of those with none of the 4 risk factors and the differences in clinical profiles and demographic features on those with risk factors and those with no risk factors. Lipid profile and use of lipid lowering agents will also be evaluated, and furthermore the die0fferneces between young vs old, and men vs women stroke patients ill be addressed.
