open access

Vol 48, No 6 (2014)
Review Article
Submitted: 2014-04-29
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Current status of stroke epidemiology in Greece: A panorama

Angelo V. Vasiliadis1, Milorad Zikić2
DOI: 10.1016/j.pjnns.2014.11.001
·
Neurol Neurochir Pol 2014;48(6):449-457.
Affiliations
  1. School of Physical Education and Sports Science in Serres, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
  2. Private praxis Novi Sad

open access

Vol 48, No 6 (2014)
Review articles
Submitted: 2014-04-29

Abstract

Although strokes have been documented since about 3 millennia, they remain today as one of the leading causes of mortality, as well as of subsequent serious long-term physical and mental morbidity, among patients in many different countries all over the world. Greece presents an increase in mortality rates according to World Health Organization, and this fact underlines the need for early diagnosis and treatment, as well as, the need to implement effective prevention strategies for strokes. This review makes an effort to describe the current status of stroke epidemiological features, as well as to present the risk factors prevalent in Greece. The incidence rate is 261–319/100,000 based on the recent population based registry. Stroke appears to be more prevalent in men than in women, and the mean age of stroke onset in Greece is at 70 years of age. Hypertension, atrial fibrillation, dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus are the major risk factors of stroke in the Greek population, while smoking is the most commonly documented modifiable risk factor in young adults with ischemic stroke. Similar to other parts of the world, ischemic stroke is the most common stroke type. The 28-day case fatality rate for men and women was 26.5%. The mean in-hospital cost per stroke patient was 3624.9 € and the mean rehabilitation cost of outpatients with stroke was 5553.3 €, while the cost proportion of hemorrhagic stroke is higher when compared to ischemic stroke. Stroke is a devastating condition with recognized challenges in identifying effective prevention programs. In Greece, limited data exists regarding the epidemiology of strokes. As a result, the need to conduct new studies and researches across the country is well documented.

Abstract

Although strokes have been documented since about 3 millennia, they remain today as one of the leading causes of mortality, as well as of subsequent serious long-term physical and mental morbidity, among patients in many different countries all over the world. Greece presents an increase in mortality rates according to World Health Organization, and this fact underlines the need for early diagnosis and treatment, as well as, the need to implement effective prevention strategies for strokes. This review makes an effort to describe the current status of stroke epidemiological features, as well as to present the risk factors prevalent in Greece. The incidence rate is 261–319/100,000 based on the recent population based registry. Stroke appears to be more prevalent in men than in women, and the mean age of stroke onset in Greece is at 70 years of age. Hypertension, atrial fibrillation, dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus are the major risk factors of stroke in the Greek population, while smoking is the most commonly documented modifiable risk factor in young adults with ischemic stroke. Similar to other parts of the world, ischemic stroke is the most common stroke type. The 28-day case fatality rate for men and women was 26.5%. The mean in-hospital cost per stroke patient was 3624.9 € and the mean rehabilitation cost of outpatients with stroke was 5553.3 €, while the cost proportion of hemorrhagic stroke is higher when compared to ischemic stroke. Stroke is a devastating condition with recognized challenges in identifying effective prevention programs. In Greece, limited data exists regarding the epidemiology of strokes. As a result, the need to conduct new studies and researches across the country is well documented.

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Keywords

Stroke, Epidemiology, Incidence, Stroke mortality, Risk factors, Greece

About this article
Title

Current status of stroke epidemiology in Greece: A panorama

Journal

Neurologia i Neurochirurgia Polska

Issue

Vol 48, No 6 (2014)

Article type

Review Article

Pages

449-457

Page views

279

Article views/downloads

527

DOI

10.1016/j.pjnns.2014.11.001

Bibliographic record

Neurol Neurochir Pol 2014;48(6):449-457.

Keywords

Stroke
Epidemiology
Incidence
Stroke mortality
Risk factors
Greece

Authors

Angelo V. Vasiliadis
Milorad Zikić

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