Occurrence of stroke in children and young adults in Indonesia: a multicenter private hospital study.

Background: Most studies that estimate the occurrence of childhood stroke use heterogeneous methods and rely on International Classification of Diseases codes, a strategy that may be unreliable.

Purpose: This study aimed to estimate the occurrence of childhood stroke in Indonesia using imaging and clinical data from a private hospital network.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used consecutive retrospective multi-center data samples collected in 2019-2023. The study cohort included children aged >28 days to young adults aged 24 years with confirmed ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke on computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The 1-year occurrence was calculated, and the data analysis was performed using SPSS version 26.

Results: Over 5 years, the performance of 8,987 CT and 6,133 MRI scans resulted in the identification of 1,074 stroke cases. The average patient age was 14.8 ± 7 years. Stroke occurrence was highest in 2021 (9.08%) and lowest in 2022 (5.91%). Male patients accounted for 67.9% of cases, with hemorrhagic strokes accounting for 83.4% of the total, primarily resulting from accidents (73.2%) and predominantly occurring in the frontal region (37.1%). A significant majority of cases (66.7%) were reported in Java. Males had a relative risk of 1.93 (95% confidence interval, 1.48-2.52; p < 0.0001) for hemorrhagic stroke versus females.

Conclusion: The incidence of childhood stroke revealed critical epidemiological trends and disparities, emphasizing the need for targeted public health interventions and enhanced stroke prevention strategies in Indonesia.