title: Improved survival from stroke. An effect of antihypertensive therapy?
abstract: A major improvement in the case/fatality ratio of patients who were admitted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with a first stroke was observed between 1974, and 1978. Reference to a current population-based stroke-incidence study enabled the most likely cause, changing selection criteria, to be discounted and there have been no improvements in acute hospital care to which this improvement may be attributed. The hypothesis is advanced that the marked improvement in survival after a first stroke, particularly in older patients, observed between the hospital series may be related to the high and increasing prevalence of treatment for hypertension in the community.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014739:Victoria
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents