Brickfield F X, Pyenson L R
Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC 20505, USA.
Mil Med. 2001 Mar;166(3):231-2.
Earlier studies by our unit documented frequent disability in world leaders resulting from stroke but did not quantify the incidence of cerebrovascular accidents. We sought to identify the frequency and impact of strokes in world leaders.
Using various sources, we identified world leaders who had sustained strokes while in office from 1970 to 1999 and tabulated information on symptoms and subsequent ability to lead.
Twenty leaders were identified who had sustained strokes during the study period, for an incidence of 0.444 strokes/100 leaders/year. Half of the affected leaders lost their political power within the year; most had persistent disabilities, which included motor, speech, cognitive, and emotional deficits.
Strokes in world leaders may be slightly less common than expected based on studies of Western populations of similar age, but they are often devastating to a political career. Nonetheless, loss of political power is not inevitable.
我们单位早期的研究记录了世界领导人中风导致的频繁残疾情况，但未对脑血管意外的发生率进行量化。我们试图确定世界领导人中风的频率和影响。
通过各种来源，我们确定了1970年至1999年在职期间中风的世界领导人，并将症状及随后的领导能力信息制成表格。
确定了20位在研究期间中风的领导人，发生率为0.444例中风/100位领导人/年。一半受影响的领导人在一年内失去了政治权力；大多数人有持续的残疾，包括运动、言语、认知和情感缺陷。
基于对相似年龄西方人群的研究，世界领导人中风的发生率可能略低于预期，但它们往往对政治生涯具有毁灭性。尽管如此，失去政治权力并非不可避免。
