Development of a web-based hybrid registry for acute stroke in Qatar
Authors: Streletz Leopold J 
Published: November 2013

Development of a Web-based Hybrid Registry for Acute Stroke in Qatar Leopold J. Streletz1,2, Saadat I. Kamran1,2, Mohammad Shahzad1, Reggie Cruze1, Naveed Akhtar1,2, Ahmed Elsotouhy2, Ahmed Khattab3, Damian Jenkinson3, 1Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar, 2Hamad General Hospital and Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar, 3Bournemouth University, Dorset, United Kingdom. Stroke is a worldwide medical problem and is one of the leading causes of death and disability for people over the age of 40. In Qatar, although cardiovascular constitutes a major cause of morbidity and mortality, very few stroke studies have been reported. Current standards of care for stroke patients require medical or surgical interventions within 72 hrs of the initial presentation. This is why our research focuses on acute stroke in order to help develop and improve current models for stroke prediction in Qatar. To achieve this in a systematic way, a disease-specific registry for acute stroke needs to be developed. A disease registry is an ongoing, inclusive listing of all individuals with an identified disease from a defined population. It can be used to monitor long-term trends of disease and can also offer clinical researchers an approach to identify particular subsets of patients for research studies. Our registry will also contain patient management parameters which will serve a more practical hospital function of quality assurance in the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) hospitals. The development of this hybrid registry is the focus of this presentation. The lead principal investigator of this research has had a prototype Acute Stroke Database on trial in a medical center in Saudi Arabia that showed great versatility and gave easily accessible data for stroke patient management. With minor modification and appropriate security, it can be made available on-line to hospitals and clinics throughout Qatar and will provide an invaluable tool for monitoring clinical data necessary for stroke patient selection. The database will initially be hospital-based and the population included will be all adult patients admitted with acute stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). The stroke database report form which will initially be used as the basis for the registry has been designed with seven specific sub-sections: Admission, Transportation, Stoke Evaluation, Stroke Management, Stroke Classification, Functional Disability, and Registry Summary. Data sources for the patient will rely heavily upon Emergency Department's records and hospital admission records for the patients. It is hoped that the registry will provide extensive clinical information on all acute stroke patients admitted into the HMC system. Using this information, we hope to be able to determine the trends and the relative frequency of specific disease manifestations in Qatar. We also hope that this information will stimulate other hospitals within the region to examine their management routines and thereby serve as a basis for improvements in patient care across the Middle East. ( NPRP No. 6-565-3-141 Award, Cycle 6, 2013 )