Stroke around the Baltic sea: Incidence, case fatality and population risk factors in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Lithuania

Within the WHO MONICA Project, stroke has been recorded in 7 populations in 4 countries around the Baltic Sea (Denmark: Glostrup; Finland: North Karelia, Turku/Loimaa and Kuopio; Sweden: Gothenburg and northern Sweden; Lithuania: Kaunas). In population surveys, risk factors for cardiovascular diseases have been examined in 10,364 persons in the age group 35-64 years. During 1987-1989, acute strokes were registered within the same age range in 2,847 men and 1,610 women. The yearly incidence (first ever stroke) per 100,000 was more than twice as high in Kuopio (men 284 and women 142) compared to Gothenburg (men 123 and women 64). Population mean systolic blood pressure was highest in 2 of the Finnish populations and lowest in the Danish population. The blood pressure levels in the populations correlated with stroke incidence in men (r = 0.87; p = 0.01) and in women (r = 0.70; p = 0.08). The large differences in community levels of blood pressure seem to explain much of the large variations in stroke incidence between populations around the Baltic Sea.