Editorial Comment—Trends in Stroke Mortality

Background and Purpose-There have been very few population-based cohort studies of long-term prognosis and risk factors for death after stroke. We examined the 10-year prognosis, causes, and risk factors of death after stroke in a Japanese cohort. Methods-During a 26-year follow-up of a cohort of 1621 subjects 40 years of age, 333 subjects developed first-ever stroke and were prospectively followed up for 10 years after onset. During these 10-year follow-up periods, 268 of the 333 stroke patients died. Of those, 239 (89.2%) underwent autopsy. Results-The risk of death was greatest in the first year after first-stroke onset in both sexes (men, 40.3%; women, 43.7%).