Epidemilogy of stroke in the Poznań district of Poland.

The incidence of cerebrovascular disease was established in the Poznań district in Poland for 1985. Mortality from cerebrovascular disease during this year was compared with mortality during 1977. The autopsy material from the years 1925 to 1985 was analyzed to differentiate ischemic from hemorrhagic stroke. The incidence of stroke was 198.3 per 100,000 inhabitants greater than 20 years of age. Mortality from cerebrovascular disease decreased significantly in both males and females from 1977 to 1985. Analysis of the pattern of cerebrovascular disease in the autopsy material from 1925 to 1965 demonstrated an overwhelming percentage of hemorrhagic stroke. In the years that followed, an inversion was noticed in the ratio of ischemic to hemorrhagic stroke. It should be assumed that the growing efficacy of antihypertensive therapy largely explains the decreasing incidence of stroke-induced mortality.