Declining incidence and mortality rates of stroke in Finland from 1972 to 1991. Results of three population-based stroke registers.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to determine trends in stroke incidence, mortality rates, case-fatality rates, and their relation in Finland.


METHODS
We compared the results of three population-based stroke registers that included first-ever strokes in people aged > or = 15 years. Two registers were kept in Espoo-Kauniainen, the first in 1972 to 1973 (EK 72-73) and the second in 1978 to 1980 (EK 78-80). The present register of the Finnish Heart Association (FHA 89-91) was kept in four districts in Finland in 1989 to 1991.


RESULTS
The age-adjusted incidence rates were 240.9, 174.4, and 191.6, and the 1-year mortality rates were 121.9, 77.0, and 65.3 in the EK 72-73, EK 78-80, and FHA 89-91 registers, respectively. The overall decline from 1972 to 1991 was 20% in the stroke incidence rate and 46% in the stroke mortality rate. One-month case-fatality rates decreased from 34.8% to 29.4% in the EK 72-73 and EK 78-80 registers and to 23.3% in the present register.


CONCLUSIONS
The decline in the stroke incidence rate during the 1970s stabilized during the late 1980s and early 1990s; however, the case-fatality rate is still decreasing. Their combined effects may explain the continuing decline in stroke mortality.
Numminen
H
H
Department of Neurology, Central Hospital of South Karelia, Finland.
Kotila
M
M
Waltimo
O
O
Aho
K
K
Kaste
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012042:Registries