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Stroke epidemiology worldwide 1/3

Stroke is the 2nd most common cause of death and the 3rd cause of physical disability in adults in the world. In the middle-and low-income countries, 70% of the stroke lead to death or severe disability. Recently, the incidence rate of stroke has been increasing dramatically more than double in these countries. However, At the same time the reported stroke cases had been significantly decreasing by 42% in high- income countries.

The preventive measures, which aim at reducing stroke incidence, target the key modifiable risk factors such as hypertension, high blood cholesterol levels, and diabetes. In addition, lifestyle risk factors are of equal importance such as smoking tobacco, less exercises, consumption of high-fat food, and being overweight. Introducing such preventive strategies has provided evidence to decrease the incidence of stroke cases in developing countries. Moreover, there are many risk factors warenting more attention and epidemiological studies such as age, race and heredity factors. Understanding the interplay of these factors as risk factors for stroke can inform aimed preventive efforts.

Increasing general public health awareness of stroke and creating better surveillance data has been proven to lead to reduction of stroke incidence.

References
1. Global Health Estimates. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2012. Available from: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/en/ [cited 2016 June 1].
2. Owolabi MO, Akarolo-Anthony S, Akinyemi R, Arnett D, Gebregziabher M, Jenkins C, et al.; Members of the H3Africa Consortium. The burden of stroke in Africa: a glance at the present and a glimpse into the future. Cardiovasc J Afr. 2015 Mar-Apr;26(2) Suppl 1:S27–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.5830/CVJA-2015-038pmid: 25962945
3. Feigin VL, Forouzanfar MH, Krishnamurthi R, Mensah GA, Connor M, Bennett DA, et al.; Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD 2010) and the GBD Stroke Experts Group. Global and regional burden of stroke during 1990-2010: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2014 Jan 18;383(9913):245–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61953-4 pmid: 24449944
4. Feigin VL, Lawes CMM, Bennett DA, Barker-Collo SL, Parag V. Worldwide stroke incidence and early case fatality reported in 56 population-based studies: a systematic review. Lancet Neurol. 2009 Apr;8(4):355–69.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(09)70025-0 pmid: 19233729
5. Strong K, Mathers C, Bonita R. Preventing stroke: saving lives around the world. Lancet Neurol.

Written by Burhan Fakhurji

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