Stroke Incidence in People Over Age 70 in Denmark Decreasing

According to a new study published in Neurology, individuals in Denmark, age 70 and more, are having fewer strokes, and fewer people of all ages are dying from the disease. There has been a decline in both ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage in older individuals. The decrease may be caused by improved treatment of hypertension and atrial fibrillation.

“Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the world,” said study author Henrik Toft Sørensen, MD, PhD, DMSc, of Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark. “Recent research on the incidence of stroke has been mixed, and some studies have reported an increase among young people. However, our research found no increase in stroke among young people, and it also found the incidence of stroke declining among older people, which is encouraging.”
 
In a review of medical records, researchers identified 8,680 adults age 18 to 49 years and 105,240 adults age 50 and more who were hospitalized with a first-time stroke between 2005 and 2018. 
The incident rate of stroke in individuals age 49 and less remained steady over the course of the study, with around 21 cases of ischemic stroke per 100,000 person-years. The incidence rate in the younger individuals with intracerebral hemorrhage was around 2 cases per 100,000 person-years at the start and end of the study.
 
The incident rate of stroke in individuals age 50 and more declined over the course of the study. There were 372 cases of ischemic stroke per 100,000 person-years at the start of the study and 311 cases at the end. There were 49 cases per 100,000 person-years at the start of the study and 38 cases at the end.