Published online before print January 4, 2007, doi: 10.1161/01.STR.0000254943.29376.e8
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(Stroke. 2007;38:229.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.
Advances in Stroke 2006 |
Health Policy and Outcomes 2006
From the Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit (A.G.R.), Royal College of Physicians, London; Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital (A.G.R.), London, UK; and the Dalhousie University (R.L.), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Correspondence to Anthony G. Rudd, Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit, Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrew’s Place, London, UK NW1 4LE. E-mail Anthony.rudd@kcl.ac.uk
Key Words: advances in stroke • health burden • health economics • health policy • outcomes research • stroke
An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract. |
Health policy and health outcomes research are closely linked covering the field of research that studies the impact of health care on patients and populations using a whole range of outcomes including mortality, physical and psychological impairment, participation, quality of life and health economics. This article reviews articles and policy documents published over the last year that cover issues that are of relevance to healthcare planners and those interested in the impact of stroke on both populations and individual patients.
Burden of Stroke
Any planning process for health development ought to be based on a thorough understanding of the health needs of the population. Although the impact of stroke has been well documented in developed countries with several well conducted population-based epidemiological studies,1,2 less is known about the disease in developing countries. An estimate of the global burden of disease3 suggests that the top 3 causes of death globally are ischemic heart disease (7.2 million deaths), stroke (5.5 million) and lower respiratory diseases (3.9 million) of a total of 56 million deaths. The leading causes of disability adjusted life years (DALY) are those that affect predominantly younger patients such as perinatal conditions (7.1% of global DALY), lower respiratory infections (6.7%), and diarrheal diseases (4.7%). Ischemic heart disease and stroke rank sixth and seventh, respectively, as causes of global disease burden. It is therefore a common misperception that stroke is predominantly a disease of developed countries.
Given that it is the second most frequent cause of death in developing countries (compared with the third
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