There are significant worldwide geographic variations in the relative burden of stroke versus ischemic heart disease, which correlate with national income and specific population risk factors.
May inform region-specific stroke prevention priorities; leaves open causal inference from ecological associations.
W ith ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke sharing many risk factors, one could presume a similar geographic pattern of stroke and IHD; however, Kim and Johnston described remarkable worldwide variations in disability-adjusted life-years (DALY) loss for both diseases. 1 For stroke, much of Asia, eastern Europe, and Africa had DALY loss of 120/100 000 in contrast to North America, western Europe, and Australia having DALY loss rates 60/100 000. Eastern Europe and northern Asia also had strikingly high DALY loss (240/100 000) from IHD. Overall, there were 62 of 192 countries with higher DALY loss from stroke than for IHD, particularly for China, but also in many countries in Africa and South America. There were only marginally more countries (74 of 192) with higher DALY loss from IHD, particularly the Middle East, but also North America, Australia, and western Europe. Countries with lower national income, lower prevalence of diabetes, higher average alcohol intake, and less obesity tended to have higher DALY loss from stroke than IHD. 1
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Grau et al. (2012) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: