Incidence and survival rates during a two-year period of intracerebral and subarachnoid haemorrhages, cortical infarcts, lacunes and transient ischaemic attacks. The Stroke Registry of Dijon: 1985-1989.

The age- and sex-specific incidence and survival rates over two years of intracerebral and subarachnoid haemorrhages, cortical infarcts, lacunes and transient ischaemic attacks (TIA) in a town of 140,000 inhabitants, are reported. During the five years, (1985 to 1989), 984 patients suffering from first stroke were registered by the Dijon Stroke Registry. The diagnosis was established by a CT-Scan in 88% of cases. Intracerebral haemorrhages (ICH) account for 8.8% of strokes, subarachnoid haemorrhages (SH) for 1.5%, cortical infarcts (CI) for 45.6%, lacunes for 16.7%, TIA for 15.8%, and 11% were undetermined. The annual average incidence rates per 100,000 are 13.4 for ICH, 2.0 for SH, 69.0 for Cl, 30.0 for lacunes and 25.5 for TIA. The survival rates for the acute stage (up to four weeks) differ between ICH and SH (46% and 67%), and the other types of strokes: 77% for Cl, 90% for lacunes and 98% for TIA. The survival rates of unclassified stroke are similar to ICH rates. At two years, survival rates of lacune and TIA are the highest. The divergences between public hospital based data and population-registry data are discussed. A population registry is necessary for studying the natural history of stroke.