Stroke Statistics in Korea: Part I. Epidemiology and Risk Factors: A Report from the Korean Stroke Society and Clinical Research Center for Stroke

Abstract

The aim of the Part I of Stroke Statistics in Korea is to summarize nationally representative data of the epidemiology and risk factors of stroke in a single document. Every year, approximately 105,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke and more than 26,000 die of stroke, which indicates that every 5 minutes stroke attacks someone and every 20 minutes stroke kills someone in Korea. Stroke accounts for roughly 1 of every 10 deaths. The estimated stroke prevalence is about 795,000 in people aged ≥30 years. The nationwide total cost for stroke care was 3,737 billion Korean won (US$3.3 billion) in 2005. Fortunately, the annual stroke mortality rate decreased substantially by 28.3% during the first decade of the 21th century (53.2/100,000 in 2010). Among OECD countries, Korea had the lowest in-hospital 30-day case-fatality rate for ischemic stroke and ranked third lowest for hemorrhagic stroke in 2009. The proportion of ischemic stroke has steadily increased and accounted for 76% of all strokes in 2009. According to hospital registry studies, the 90-day mortality rate was 3-7% for ischemic stroke and 17% for intracerebral hemorrhage. For risk factors, among Korean adults ≥30 years of age, one in 3-4 has hypertension, one in 10 diabetes, and one in 7 hypercholesterolemia. One in 3 Korean adults ≥19 years of age is obese. Over the last 10 years, the prevalence of hypertension slightly decreased, but the prevalence of diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity increased. Smoking prevalence in men has decreased, but is still as high as 48%. This report could be a valuable resource for establishing health care policy and guiding future research directions.

Risk of Ischemic Stroke in Patients With Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation Not Receiving Oral Anticoagulants ― Korean Nationwide Population-Based Study ―

“…The occurrence of ischemic stroke in the general population is more frequent in women than in men in the USA, but is less frequent in women than in men in Korea. 32, 33 In addition, Asian AF patients have been shown to have several distinctive features in major randomized controlled trials, including a high risk of bleeding. 17, 18 Second, there may be cultural factors.…”

The Changing Trends in Age of First-Ever or Recurrent Stroke in A Rapidly Developing Urban Area during 19 Years

“…First, we investigated the stroke age trends between our hospital. So there are some differences in the incidence of HS in our hospital compared with the reports using the national wide data's [11]. Recent reports of national wide data's showed that the mean age of stroke onset has been increased.…”

“…In South Korea, the stroke incidence was 216 per 100,000 person-years, and this incidence increased steeply with age; patients of old age comprised the main proportion of strokes. Meanwhile, the relative proportion of HS decreased steadily from 2000 to 2009 (35.3% to 23.9%) [11].…”

Clinical Characteristics of Elderly Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients Calling Emergency Medical Services

“…Several studies found that patients who were transported by emergency medical services (EMS) had shorter prehospital delays than did patients who did not use EMS [8][9][10] . In addition, increased IV tPA treatment rate is associated with better prognosis than that achieved by patients not using EMS [3][4][5] . Thus, we speculate that calls to EMS could help solve the problem of prehospital delays, and calls to EMS could be associated with patient prognosis.…”

“…According to a recent report, each year approximately 105,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke, and more than 26,000 people die from stroke 2,3) . Patients with stroke must be treated immediately to achieve a good outcome and improve neurological prognosis 4,5) .…”