[Epidemiology of stroke: a prospective community-based study of stroke in Warsaw, 1991-1992]

Poland is one of very few countries in the world in which stroke mortality rates have been rising at least since 1970s. This high level of stroke mortality could be due to either high incidence rates, or high case fatality rates, or both. Based on our previous two-year prospective study of patients with strokes in 1991-1992, stroke incidence rates in Poland were found to be comparable to other countries (incidence rate standardized for the European population was 149/100,000), however 30 day case fatality rates were almost two times higher (26.8% in ischaemic strokes, 61.1% in haemorrhagic). High case fatality rates, as opposed to incidence rates, probably explain high stroke mortality rates in Poland.