INTERSTROKE Angola: A multicenter Prospective Case–Control Study in a Sub-Saharan African Country.

Background: Stroke is a major cause of disability and mortality worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest prevalence rates; however, the actual magnitude of the disease in this region remains unknown. We aimed to study the modifiable risk factors for stroke in patients admitted to tertiary hospitals in Luanda, Angola, in 2022–2023. Methods: We conducted a prospective case–control study in four tertiary hospitals in Luanda, Angola. The cases were patients with stroke manifestations within 5 days or who presented with such manifestations within the first 72 hours of admission, and the controls were patients with no history of previous stroke or transient ischemic attack. The cases and controls were matched in a 1:1 ratio on the basis of the age of the cases. Data were prospectively obtained using physical surveys structured by the authors on the basis of the INTERSTROKE study. Descriptive statistics were used, and the difference between means was calculated using Student’s t-test. Results: The final population comprised 314 participants, with 157 cases and 157 controls. The average age of the cases was 61 years (±13.9), with 59% of the cases < 65 years old. There was a predominance of males among the cases (56.1%). The ischemic form of stroke was the most frequent (73.2%), and 27.4% of patients had a favorable outcome (score of five) according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale. After one month, 35.6% had a score between zero to three on the modified Rankin Scale. All the risk factors assessed had a significant difference between the groups (hypertension: t = 42.071, p < 0.01; smoking: t = 30.992, p < 0.01; increased waist-to-hip ratio: t = 47.967, p < 0.01; sedentary lifestyle: t = 53.237, p < 0.01; diabetes: t = 55.964, p < 0.01; alcohol intake: t = 32.319, p < 0.01; and increased body mass index [≥25 kg/m2]: t = 15.813, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The findings show that these factors can serve as important targets for stroke prevention.