THE GREATER CINCINNATI NORTHERN KENTUCKY STROKE STUDY - PRELIMINARY FIRST-EVER AND TOTAL INCIDENCE RATES OF STROKE AMONG BLACKS

Background and Purpose-The Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Study was designed to be the first large, population-based metropolit an study of temporal trends in stroke incidence rates and outcome with in a biracial population. Methods-We are identifying all hospitalized and autopsied cases of stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) amon g the 1.3 million inhabitants of a five-county region of Greater Cinci nnati/Northern Kentucky for the period 7/1/93-6/30/94. We have already prospectively monitored for out-of-hospital stroke and TIAs for this same time period at 128 screening sites, including a random sample of all primary care physicians and nursing homes in the region. We have a lready identified all hospitalized and autopsied cases of stroke and T IA among blacks for 1/1/93-6/30/93 and report preliminary incidence ra tes for this 6-month period. Results-The overall incidence rate for al l first-ever hospitalized or autopsiedstroke (excluding TIAs) among bl acks in the Greater Cincinnati region was 288 per 100000 (95% CI, 250 to 325, age- and sex-adjusted to 1990 US population). The overall inci dence rate for first-ever and recurrent stroke (excluding TIAs) was 41 1 per 100000 (95% CI, 366 to 456). By comparison, the overall incidenc e rate of first-ever stroke among whites in Rochester, Minn, during th e period 1985-1989 was 179 per 100000 (95% CI, 164 to 194, age-and-sex adjusted to 1990 US population). The incidence rates among blacks in Greater Cincinnati were substantially greater than the rates among whi tes in Rochester, Minn, for all age categories except ages 75 and olde r, for which the rates were similar. Conclusions-We conservatively est imate that 731100 first-ever or recurrent strokes occurred in the Unit ed States during 1996. Studies of first-ever as well as total stroke a mong biracial and representative populations are critical for understa nding temporal trends in the incidence rate and the burden of stroke i n the US population.