A Stroke Register in Göteborg, Sweden

Abstract In January 1970 a Stroke Register was established in Göteborg, Sweden, covering all cases of acute cerebrovascular incidents occurring in inhabitants of the city born in 1904 and later. This was initiated by the success of the existing Myocardial Infarction Register and constitutes an autonomous but integral part of the Heart Control Programme of Göteborg that has been in progress since 1968 and is partly supported by the WHO. The method of registration and the results from the initial 6‐month period (Jan. 1st – June 30th, 1970) are presented. From all cases of stroke notified clinically through hospital contact (all acute disease manifestations are traditionally served centrally at the one major hospital of the city) and from cases additionally detected through autopsy recordings and death certificates, various information was collected. This consisted of a selection of personal data, previous medical history of cardiovascular diseases, clinical findings on admission, routine laboratory results, and findings at special neurological examinations. The results show a total number of 102 registered cases and a male/female ratio in these age groups of nearly 2 : 1. The rale of co‐existent cardiovascular diseases was found to be high when compared with prevalence data of two running population studies for men and women from Göteborg of similar ages. Other data obtained gave rise to several indications of association with various clinical factors, though the limited numbers of patients do not allow any conclusions so far. It is concluded that the establishment of a stroke register seems a prerequisite as a basic measurement tool in order further to describe the natural history of stroke in a community and to assess preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitation measures both for the present hospital‐oriented and for implementation of an eventual community stroke control programme.