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(Stroke. 1995;26:562-568.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Prevalence of Stroke at High Altitude (3380 m) in Cuzco, a Town of Peru

A Population-Based Study

Assia Serradj Jaillard, MD; Marc Hommel, MD Pilar Mazetti, MD

From the Department of Clinical and Biological Neurosciences (A.S.J.) and the Stroke Unit (M.H.), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, France; and the Instituto de Ciencias Neurologicas Oscar Trelles Montes, Hospital Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, Lima, Peru (P.M.).

Correspondence to Marc Hommel, MD, Stroke Unit, Clinique Neurologique, Department of Clinical and Biological Neurosciences, BP 217 38043, Grenoble, Cedex 9, France.

Background and Purpose We carried out a door-to-door survey on stroke prevalence at high altitude in Cuzco City, a town in the Peruvian Andes located 3380 m above sea level.

Methods and Results Among the 3246 screened individuals over 15 years old, there were 21 cases of first-ever completed stroke, yielding a crude prevalence ratio of 6.47 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.71 to 8.93 per 1000). The age-adjusted to WHO population point prevalence ratio was 5.74 per 1000 (95% CI, 3.14 to 8.35 per 1000), and the age-adjusted to North American US population point prevalence ratio was 8.58 per 1000 (95% CI, 5.44 to 11.75 per 1000). Multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that age, polycythemia, high consumption of alcohol, and area of residence were associated with stroke prevalence. Our results suggest that the stroke prevalence in the central areas of Cuzco with sedentary people having a relatively high standard of living was higher than that in the peripheral areas with people with a relatively lower standard of living and less sedentary activities (odds ratio, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.4 to 23).

Conclusions The prevalence of stroke suggests that stroke may be a public health problem in developing countries. This study suggests the importance of environmental factors such as altitude and lifestyle in stroke occurrence. The role of these factors should be confirmed and taken into account in future stroke prevalence studies.

Key Words: alcohol • altitude • lifestyle • Peru

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