ArticlePsychosomatic medicine2018
Functional Stroke Mimics: Incidence and Characteristics at a Primary Stroke Center in the Middle East.
Article in Psychosomatic medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stroke mimic caused by severe hypomagnesemia: a case report and literature review.Journal of neurology · 2026Review
- Diagnostic Overshadowing in Functional Neurological Disorder Leading to a Diagnosis of Acute Motor and Sensory Axonal Neuropathy: A Case Report.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Functional Stroke Mimics: Patient Characteristics, CT-Based Multimodal Imaging and Long-Term Outcome in a Comparative Cohort Study.European journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Frequency and characteristics of functional neurological disorder in the emergency department.Journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Functional Neurological Disorder Among Neurology In-Patients.European journal of neurology · 2025Article
- The Incidence of Stroke Mimics in the Emergency Department of a Tertiary-care Center in Lebanon.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator in functional stroke mimics.Postepy psychiatrii neurologii · 2025Review
- Clinical and Epidemiological Characteristics of Patients with Functional Stroke Mimics: A Case-Control Study from Southern Portugal.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Dual-Energy CT in Acute Stroke: Could Non-Contrast CT Be Replaced by Virtual Non-Contrast CT? A Feasibility Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Dexmedetomidine alleviates blood-brain barrier disruption in rats after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion by suppressing JNK and p38 MAPK signaling.The Korean journal of physiology & pharmacology : official journal of the Korean Physiological Society and the Korean Society of Pharmacology · 2024Article
- Short-term functional outcomes of patients with acute intracerebral hemorrhage in the native and expatriate population.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Article
- Positive psychology interventions in the United Arab Emirates: boosting wellbeing - and changing culture?Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Women and stroke: disparities in clinical presentation, severity, and short- and long-term outcomes.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- The impact of enteric coating of aspirin on aspirin responsiveness in patients with suspected or newly diagnosed ischemic stroke: prospective cohort study: results from the (ECASIS) study.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Article
- Functional neurological disorders: an Australian interdisciplinary perspective.The Medical journal of Australia · 2022Article
- Article
- Stroke mimics: incidence, aetiology, clinical features and treatment.Annals of medicine · 2021Article
- A guide to functional disease for a trauma conscious generation.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2021Article
- Changing Demographics of Stroke Mimics in Present Day Stroke Code Era: Need of a Streamlined Clinical Assessment for Emergency Physicians.Journal of neurosciences in rural practice · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveApproximately 30% of individuals who initially present with stroke are found to be stroke mimics (SM), with functional/psychological SM (FSM) accounting for up to 6.4% of all stroke presentations. Middle Eastern countries may have higher rates of somatization of emotional distress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence and characteristics of FSM at a large general hospital in the Middle East.
methodsAll patients presenting with an initial diagnosis of stroke from June 2015 to September 2016 were eligible for this study. Clinical and sociodemographic data were obtained from the hospital's stroke database. All SM and strokes were diagnosed by Joint Commission International-certified stroke program neurologists. SM was defined as any discharge diagnosis (other than acute stroke) for symptoms that prompted initial admission for suspected stroke. FSM were compared with medical stroke mimics (MSM) and strokes (ischemic, hemorrhagic, and transient ischemic attacks).
resultsA total of 1961 patients were identified; 161 FSM (8.2%), 390 MSM (19.9%), and 1410 strokes (71.9%) (985 ischemic strokes, 196 transient ischemic attacks, 229 intracerebral hemorrhages). Admission with FSM was related to patients' nationality, with the highest frequency in Arabic (15.6%) and African (16.8%) patients. FSM patients were younger, more often female, and had fewer cardiovascular risk factors except for smoking compared with the strokes. FSM patients presented with more left-sided weakness and had more magnetic resonance imagings than the stroke and MSM groups. A total of 9.9% of FSM patients received thrombolysis versus only 0.5% of the MSM and 16.4% of ischemic strokes.
conclusionsFSM frequencies varied by nationality, with Arab and African nationals being twice as prevalent. Stress, vulnerable status as expats, sociopolitical instability, and exposure to trauma are proposed as potential factors contributing to FSM.
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