STROKE AROUND THE BALTIC SEA - INCIDENCE, CASE-FATALITY AND POPULATION RISK-FACTORS IN DENMARK, FINLAND, SWEDEN AND LITHUANIA

Within the WHO MONICA Project, stroke has been recorded in 7 populatio ns in 4 countries around the Baltic Sea (Denmark: Glostrup; Finland: N orth Karelia, Turku/Loimaa and Kuopio; Sweden: Gothenburg and northern Sweden; Lithuania: Kaunas). In population surveys, risk factors for c ardiovascular diseases have been examined in 10,364 persons in the age group 35-64 years. During 1987-1989, acute strokes were registered wi thin the same age range in 2,847 men and 1,610 women. The yearly incid ence (first ever stroke) per 100,000 was more than twice as high in Ku opio (men 284 and women 142) compared to Gothenburg (men 123 and women 64). Population mean systolic blood pressure was highest in 2 of the Finnish populations and lowest in the Danish population. The blood pre ssure levels in the populations correlated with stroke incidence in me n (r = 0.87; p = 0.01) and in women (r = 0.70; p = 0.08). The large di fferences in community levels of blood pressure seem to explain much o f the large variations in stroke incidence between populations around the Baltic Sea.