[Apoplexia cerebri registration in the municipality of Fredriksberg. Preliminary account of a WHO project].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Marquardsen.
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Since 1971, stroke registers in several countries have been cooperating in a study of stroke epidemiology, initiated by WHO. One of the registers covers the population of Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. During the first two years of registration strokes were recorded in 556 Frederiksberg citizens. A certain diagnosis of cerebral hemorrhage--verified by angiography, spinal fluid examination, or autopsy--was made in 10% of the patients; subarachnoid hemorrhage was demonstrated in only 2%; most of the remaining patients probably had cerebral infarction. The overall annual incidence of stroke, when adjusted for age for the Danish population, was 1.9 per 1,000 for males, and 1.6 per 1,000 for females. For every type of stroke, except subarachnoid hemorrhage, the incidence increased markedly with age. The age-specific stroke incidence rates found in the present investigation are much lower than those demonstrated by Aho in a community-based study in Finland. In view of the strict comparability of the two studies, real differences in the risk of stroke may exist between the two communities.
Two hundred and three patients, 148 males and 55 females, who during the last month before admission had experienced at least one reversible cerebral ischemic attack of less than 72 hours duration, were randomly assigned to treatment with either acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) 1000 mg daily (101 patients) or placebo (102 patients). The average follow-up period was 25 months. The two treatment groups were comparable with respect to age, sex, associated diseases, risk factors, number and duration of cerebral ischemic attacks. No statistically significant differences were found between the treatment groups as to the primary end point: stroke or death (ASA group 20.8%, placebo group 16.7%). Occurrence of transient ischemic attacks during the treatment period was not reduced by ASA treatment, whereas there was a trend suggesting fewer myocardial infarctions in the ASA group (5.9%) than in the placebo group (13.7%). The difference, however, was not statistically significant (p = 0.10). We were thus unable to demonstrate any favorable influence of ASA 1000 mg daily in patients with reversible ischemic attacks. This study does not, of course, prove that ASA treatment is ineffective in stroke prevention.