Stroke in Spain: epidemiologic incidence and patterns; a health sentinel network study

Cerebrovascular disease is among the 4 main causes of mortality in Spain. The objective of this study was to estimate the incidence of stroke and to describe the principal risk factors and other clinical and epidemiologic patterns found in patients.

Doctors from the Spanish sentinel health network recorded the episodes of acute cerebrovascular diseases in 2005 in a population of 201,205 inhabitants older than 14 years. The information of the patients (age and sex) and the episode (e.g., duration, symptoms, origin, medical attention, risk factors) was collected on a standard form.

The estimated incidence rate of stroke was 141 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (confidence interval [CI] 95%: 125-158), 134 (95% CI: 112-157) in women and 148 (95% CI: 124-172) in men. The incidence increases significantly from the age of 65 years and men younger than this have higher rates than women. In all, 12% of patients with stroke die within the first 24 hours.

Incidence of cerebrovascular disease in Spain is below that recorded in other countries. There is no difference according to sex, but incidence among young and middle-aged men is greater than that among women. Significant variations from some population groups to others are observed, maybe because of the difference in the prevalence of risk factors.