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Globally, the incident of stroke in each new decade has been rising by double among the age group of 55 years. Considering adults aged 35 to 44, the occurrence of stroke is 30 to 120 of 100,000 per year. Children which have sickle cell anemia disease have a higher risk to have stroke between the ages 2-5 years.
Controlling stroke risk factors plays a significant role in decreasing stroke incidence. There has been evidence suggesting increased incident by 25% of stroke case in developing countries compared to industrialized countries. The main reason for this difference is not well identified yet, but the developing countries are unlikely to have the same progress in acute stroke treatment and secondary stroke prevention measures.
References:
1. Roger VL, Go AS, Lloyd-Jones DM, et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics—2011 update: a report from the american heart association. Circulation 2011;123:e18–e209.
2. Chen C, Hsu C. Stroke: an overview. In: Lisak R, Truong, DD, Caroll, WM, Bhidayasiri R (eds) International neurology: a clinical approach. West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley- Blackwell, 2009:1.
3. Ariesen MJ, Claus SP, Rinkel GJ, Algra A. Risk factors for intracerebral hemorrhage in the general population: a systematic review. Stroke 2003;34:2060–2065.
4. Chong J, Sacco R. Risk factors for stroke, assessing risk, and the mass and high-risk approaches for stroke prevention. In: Gorelick PB, ed. Continuum: Stroke Prevention. Hagerstwon, Maryland: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2005:18–34.
5. Ohene-Frempong K, Weiner SJ, Sleeper LA, et al. Cerebrovascular accidents in sickle cell disease: Rates and risk factors. Blood 1998;91:288–294.
6. Ovbiagele B. National sex-specific trends in hospital-based stroke rates. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis 2010. doi:10.1016/j.jstroke cerebrovasdis.2010.03.007.
Written by Burhan Fakhurji
