Abstract

Optimal control of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors for patients with stroke is essential to prevent further ischemic events. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Post-Stroke Special Clinic (PSSC), a public primary care setting run by family specialists, by testing the control of blood pressure, low density lipoprotein, haemoglobin A1c if diabetic and smoking, among patients who had stroke and follow-up in PSSC. A retrospective single arm pre-post study was conducted among Chinese ischemic stroke patients who attended PSSC from 1st January, 2015 to 31st December, 2018 and had follow-up till one year after last incidence of stroke. At one year after last incidence of stroke, there were significant decrease in blood pressure, low density lipoprotein, haemoglobin A1c and the proportion of smokers compared with baseline (all P<0.05). There were 19 out of 326 cases had recurrent stroke within one year, yielding an annual recurrence rate of 5.8%. Findings of this study on the improvement in cardiovascular disease risk factor control and the relatively low one-year recurrence rate of stroke underlined the positive role of primary care on stroke management.

Key words: Stroke, recurrence rate, family physician, primary care.