Mortality from and incidence of stroke in Stockholm

To study trends in the incidence of and mortality from stroke in Stockholm during 1974-81 all cases (n = 56566) of stroke in patients aged over 40 were identified from the Swedish Cause of Death Register and the Inpatient Care Register. Information on the population at risk was obtained from the civil registration system. A multiplicative model was used to control for changes in the distribution of age during the study. Mortality from stroke decreased annually throughout the study by a mean of 2.3% for men and 3.5% for women. This favourable development was not accompanied by a similar decrease in the incidence of stroke. In men the total incidence (including recurrent strokes) and incidence of first stroke increased continuously. In women the total incidence showed virtually no change, whereas the incidence of first stroke decreased somewhat. These findings, in addition to an expected shift of age profile in the population towards more elderly people, should be considered in the planning of future health care resources.