Incidence of stroke in Oxfordshire: first year's experience of a community stroke register.
The Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project is a prospective study of all new cases of stroke and transient ischaemic attack in a defined population of about 103 000 patients registered with 49 general practitioners; every case is assessed by a neurologist and most patients undergo a CT scan or are examined post mortem, or both, to ensure accurate diagnosis. Out of 404 cases registered in the first year, 168 patients had suffered a first stroke, 52 a recurrent stroke, and 41 a transient ischaemic attack; 143 were excluded. Of the 168 patients with their first stroke, 153 (91%) were seen by a neurologist and 149 (89%) had a CT scan or came to necropsy. The pathological diagnosis was cerebral infarction in 127 cases (76%), intracranial haemorrhage in 22 (13%), and unknown in 19 (11%). The estimated yearly incidence of first stroke was 1.95/1000 population (age adjusted to 1981 population of England and Wales).
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012042:Registries; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed