Prevalence of stresss ulcer among patients with stroke

Stress ulcer is defined as an acute mucosal lesion of the upper gastrointestinal tract caused by an indirect influence of several pathological situations such as brain tumor, severe burn, patients with multiorgan failure and stroke. Many investigators have reported the prevalence of stress ulcer among patients with stroke. This article will report the result of endoscopic examination among patients with stroke. Seventy-seven patients with cortical and subcortical stroke have been examined by means of endoscopy. Diagnosis of stroke was made by CT scan examination and stress ulcer was diagnosed by endoscopic examination according to a standard procedure. The overall prevalence of stress ulcer among patients with stroke was 33.6%, i.e. 47.7% among patients with hemorrhagic stroke and 18.4% among patients with ischaemic stroke. The difference in prevalence of stress ulcer between these two groups was statistically significant (x² = 7.02, p = 0.0085). The risk of stress ulcer among patients with haemorrhagic stroke was higher than patients with ischaemic stroke (OR = 3.88, 1.25 < OR < 12.44).