Basic characteristics of hospital stroke services in Eastern Hungary

Stroke mortality is extremely high in Central-Eastern European countries. W e report basic characteristics of a stroke unit in Eastern Hungary, includi ng age and sex distribution; the proportion of transient ischemic attacks ( TIA), ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes; case fatality; application of diagn ostic methods; and length of stay for all patients treated with acute cereb rovascular disease over a 12-month period. Records of all patients with acu te cerebrovascular disease (n = 522) discharged in 1995 from a stroke unit with a well defined catchment area of 220,000 inhabitants in Eastern Hungar y were retrospectively analyzed. Case fatality was 18.6% for all patients a nd 21.1% after excluding cases with TIA. Computer tomography, duplex caroti d ultrasound, cerebrospinal fluid examination and electroencephalography we re performed in 79%, 77%, 7% and 2% of the patients, respectively. The data base of the university hospital with the same catchment area was electronic ally searched for patients who were discharged with the diagnosis of stroke from the three departments of internal medicine. Stroke mortality data of the catchment area based on death certificates was obtained from the Centra l Statistical Bureau. Two hundred twenty-eight stroke deaths were reported in the catchment area in 1995. In the same period 97 stroke deaths occurred at the stroke unit and 76 at the departments of internal medicine. If we a im to treat all patients with acute stroke at the stroke unit, with the pre sent stroke incidence and duration of hospital stay the current capacity of the stroke unit (1 bed per 10.000 inhabitants) should be doubled.