PROSPECTIVE COMMUNITY-BASED STUDY OF STROKE IN WARSAW, POLAND

Background and Purpose Poland is a country with high morbidity and mor tality rates from cardiovascular diseases. No recent studies have eval uated the contribution of cerebrovascular diseases to this morbidity a nd mortality. Our aim was to accurately determine stroke incidence rat es in Warsaw, Poland. Methods A 2-year prospective and population-base d stroke registry was maintained for health care units 2 and 3 in Wars aw, Poland (population, 182 285). Case subjects were ascertained by su rveying hospital admissions, outpatient visits, and death certificates . Results During the 2 years of the study (1991 to 1992), 633 cases of first-event strokes were registered, 462 of which were first ever in a lifetime. Computed tomography or necropsy was performed in 72% of fi rst-ever stroke cases. The crude annual incidence rate for first-ever stroke was 127/100 000 (95% confidence intervals, 111 to 145); the rat e standardized to the European population was 111 (95% confidence inte rvals, 96 to 128). Our incidence rates for first-event strokes were fo und to be in the middle of the range among other first-event studies. When comparing our first-ever stroke incidence rates with those of com parable studies performed throughout Europe, they were found to be sim ilar for groups aged younger than 65 years but lower in the older age groups. The distribution of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke subtypes w as similar to that of other countries. Conclusions This first populati on-based prospective stroke registry in Poland showed that incidence r ates were not high compared with other studies throughout Europe and t he world. These stroke incidence rates are not a large contributing fa ctor to high cardiovascular morbidity rates in Poland.