The epidemiology of stroke and transient ischaemia in Brisbane, Australia

This study presents the crude and age-adjusted annual incidence rates and diagnostic classifications of acute strokes and identified transient ischaemia cases in persons 25 years and over in an urban population slightly over one million. Ot the total of 2676 hospital admissions 1244 were stroke patients (the other 89 were unsubstantiated, 144 were resident outside the incidence area, 555 were asymptomatic lesions and 644 were TIA admissions); 139 patients were in chronic care facilities; 134 were managed in their own homes by their medical practitioners, with 84 certified community and 455 medical practitioners' reported deaths giving a total of 2056 strokes. Including the TIAs treated at home and admissions to hospitals there were 1877 TIAs (population at risk 660,598). The overall age-adjusted incidence rate for stroke was 1.22 or 40 percent of the crude rate per 1000 persons at risk, while the overall TIA age-adjusted rate was 1.20 or 43 percent. Aetiological classifications revealed thrombosis 0.46, embolism 0.09, intracerebral haemorrhage 0.19, subaracnoid 0.14, and acute but ill-defined events were 0.34 per 1000 persons. Early mortality was 32 percent with a significant winter peak with incidence unrelated to mean ambient temperature