Сlinical-epidemiological study of stroke in the city of Yakutsk

The study of epidemiological characteristics of stroke in Yakutsk was carried out within the population register (2002–2004). 1495 patients with acute stroke have been verified. Among them, 81.5% patients were hospitalized, and CT/MRI was performed in 73.2% of patients. Such high percentage of the CT/MRI exams was a prominent feature of this register; this allowed to verify surely the diagnosis of stroke and to define its character and pathogenic subtype. It was shown that the use of neuroimaging methods in the diagnostics of stroke character led to a twofold increase in percentage of patients with cerebral hemorrhages (CH) – 38% vs. 18% initial frequency of CH (i.e. first diagnosed only by clinical data). Large cerebral infarctions in the population were found in 32.8% of cases and, clinically, they could be similar to CH. Thus, on clinical definition of stroke character, in 1/3 of cases there might be some diagnostic difficulties. Lacunar infarctions were found in 16.3% of patients. Severe conditions, such as brainstem and cerebellar hemorrhages, were shown to occur in the population with equal frequency (5.6%); ventricular hemorrhage was also frequent (35.7%). The frequency of CH in natives and non-natives was identical (0.74 and 0.79 per 1000 inhabitants in a year, correspondingly). The frequency of ischemic stroke in the non-native population was significantly higher compared to natives (1.96 and 1.12, correspondingly), which results from lower severity of atherosclerosis in Yakuts.