A prospective community-based study of stroke in Warsaw, Poland

Poland is a country with high morbidity and mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases. No recent studies have evaluated the contribution of cerebrovascular diseases to this morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to accurately determine stroke incidence rates in Warsaw, Poland.

A 2-year prospective and population-based stroke registry was maintained for health care units 2 and 3 in Warsaw, Poland (population, 182,285). Case subjects were ascertained by surveying hospital admissions, outpatient visits, and death certificates.

During the 2 years of the study (1991 to 1992), 633 cases of first-event strokes were registered, 462 of which were first ever in a lifetime. Computed tomography or necropsy was performed in 72% of first-ever stroke cases. The crude annual incidence rate for first-ever stroke was 127/100,000 (95% confidence intervals, 111 to 145); the rate standardized to the European population was 111 (95% confidence intervals, 96 to 128). Our incidence rates for first-event strokes were found to be in the middle of the range among other first-event studies. When comparing our first-ever stroke incidence rates with those of comparable studies performed throughout Europe, they were found to be similar for groups aged younger than 65 years but lower in the older age groups. The distribution of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke subtypes was similar to that of other countries.

This first population-based prospective stroke registry in Poland showed that incidence rates were not high compared with other studies throughout Europe and the world. These stroke incidence rates are not a large contributing factor to high cardiovascular morbidity rates in Poland.