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(Stroke. 1998;29:866-867.)
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Prevalence of Stroke and Stroke-Related Disability

Torgeir Bruun Wyller, MD

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ullevaal Hospital, Oslo, Norway

To the Editor:

Bonita and colleagues¹ provide valuable information on the prevalence of stroke and the proportion with persisting sequelae. Their conclusions, drawn on the basis on an actuarial model, agree well with the results from a population-based survey from Nord-Trøndelag County, Norway.² This study comprised 74 977 persons, including permanent nursing home residents; the attendance rate was 88.1%. The raw prevalence rate of stroke was 1850 per 100 000 in the population aged 20 years and 960 per 100 000 when standardized to the entire European population. However, when the sensitivity and specificity of the screening question³ are taken into account, one may have to adjust the prevalence estimate downward to approximately 1100 per 100 000.⁴ In the Table, age-specific prevalence estimates from the Nord-Trøndelag and the Auckland studies are compared.

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Table 1. Prevalence Rates of Stroke and Stroke-Related Impairments/Disabilities (per 100 000 Population) in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, and Auckland, New Zealand, by Age

The Nord-Trøndelag study² provides figures for self-reported motor impairments, whereas the Auckland study¹ reports the prevalence rate of patients with self-reported incomplete recovery and those who need help in activities of daily living. The results of the two studies (for both sexes combined) are summarized in the Table. Despite focusing on different sequelae, the results are similar, especially in the older age groups. In the younger age groups, both studies have low numbers of events and thus less confident estimates.

The credibility of such estimates increases when similar results are obtained by two different . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Ruth Bonita, MPH, PhD

Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

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