[Stroke--an expensive public health issue in Finland]

Of the Finnish population, 1.5% has hada stroke. Since the 1970's, the mortality of patients with a stroke has been reduced by half, but still one fifth of the patients succumb within 3 months of their stroke. The average lifetime healthcare costs after a stroke are 86,300 Euros per patient. Of this sum, two thirds, i.e. 60,000 Euros, are directly due to stroke, one third due to other diseases. The sum spent annually in the treatment of stroke patients in Finland is 7%, i.e. 1.1 Billion Euros, of total healthcare costs.