Incidence, hospital admission rate, and health outcomes following stroke in Ayrshire and Arran.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the incidence, hospital admission rate and health outcomes following stroke in Ayrshire and Arran.


METHODS
Community based study with prospective identification of stroke patients from a random sample of general practices stratified by geographical area and practice size.


METHODS
Ayrshire and Arran Health Board area, West of Scotland.


METHODS
All stroke patients from the 24 general practices in the sample.


METHODS
Barthel Index, Canadian Neurological Scale, Mini-mental State Examination, SF-36.


RESULTS
The incidence of stroke was 2.33 per 1000 for both first and recurrent events and 78% of people were admitted to hospital following their stroke. Those admitted to hospital had significantly poorer outcomes in the early post-stroke period (first six months).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study provides recent figures for the incidence and hospital admission rates following stroke. We speculate that our rates may be typical for the NHS in Scotland at present.
Alexander
H
H
Department of Public Health, University of Aberdeen, Polwarth Building, Foresterhill, Aberdeen.
Bugge
C
C
Hagen
S
S
Russell
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D015996:Survival Rate