STROKE INCIDENCE AND CASE-FATALITY IN FINLAND AND IN AKITA, JAPAN - ACOMPARATIVE-STUDY

The incidence and case fatality of stroke from 1983 to 1985 from the c ommunity-based stroke register of the FINMONICA study in Finland were compared with the corresponding rates in the hospital-based register o f Akita in Japan collected during 1984-1986. The comparability of the two registers was assessed, and case fatality was compared only in hos pitalized cases. In Akita, the age-standardized incidence of cerebral haemorrhage in people aged 25-74 was twice that in FINMONICA, while th e reverse was true for incidence of cerebral infarction. Case fatality from stroke within 48 h of onset was higher in FINMONICA than in Akit a in each stroke subtype. The incidence and mortality of subarachnoid haemorrhage were similar in the two populations. The differences in ea rly case fatality are probably due to dissimilarities in the severity of the stroke attacks rather than discrepancies in early treatment. Co ding practices and also a more unlikely selection bias due to the diff erential use of computerized brain tomography in the two countries may play a role in differences in incidence and case fatality between the se two countries.