[Progress of the stroke registry system by public health centers, and factors associated with its advancement].
In Japan, a community-based stroke registry was started in 1992 based on the policy of the central government. There are mainly two objectives in this registry system. One is to analyze factors related to the incidence of stroke, and the other is to support home care of stroke patients after leaving the hospital. This system has experienced many difficulties, such as obtaining appropriate information smoothly from the hospitals. Therefore, we investigated all 895 public health centers in Japan through a questionnaire sent by mail, in February 1996. We obtained valid replies from 612 (68%) of the public health centers by March 1996. Results showed that 75% of health centers have established a stroke registry system. Some health centers have promoted the system since 1984. In these systems, the flows of information are mainly of two types: ones which flow to the health centers from the hospitals and the ones which flow to the municipalities. In the former, the number of registered cases were significantly higher and the registry was functioning better than the latter. It has become clear that the health center plays a key role in the successful development of a stroke registry system.
Murakami
S
S
Department of Public Health, Osaka University Medical School.
Nagano
K
K
Tatara
K
K
Baba
S
S
Hitsumoto
S
S
Sako
T
T
D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012042:Registries; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires