Incidence, hospital admission rate, and health outcomes following stroke in Ayrshire and Arran.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the incidence, hospital admission rate and health outcomes following stroke in Ayrshire and Arran. DESIGN: Community based study with prospective identification of stroke patients from a random sample of general practices stratified by geographical area and practice size. SETTING: Ayrshire and Arran Health Board area, West of Scotland. SUBJECTS: All stroke patients from the 24 general practices in the sample. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Barthel Index, Canadian Neurological Scale, Mini-mental State Examination, SF-36. RESULTS: The incidence of stroke was 2.33 per 1000 for both first and recurrent events and 78% of people were admitted to hospital following their stroke. Those admitted to hospital had significantly poorer outcomes in the early post-stroke period (first six months). CONCLUSION: Our study provides recent figures for the incidence and hospital admission rates following stroke. We speculate that our rates may be typical for the NHS in Scotland at present.