Abstract
The coalfield in the Hunter Region, Australia, has been reported to have a high incidence
of ischemic heart disease. The purpose of the study was to determine the hospitalized
stroke attack rates in rural, urban, and coalfield areas in the Hunter Region. All
the stroke events across the Hunter Region (population 521,785) between July 1995
and June 2000 were included. The annual age and sex specific stroke attack rates and
28-day and 12-month case-fatalities were evaluated. The trends of attack rates during
the study period in the region were examined by Poisson regression. The crude annual
stroke attack rate was 178/100,000 population, with 95% confidence interval (CI) 164
to 192. The coalfields showed a significantly higher attack rates in comparison to
the other two areas (P =.006, respectively). The attack rates in the whole region and the three individual
areas were stable. The 28-day and 12-month case-fatalities for stroke were 19% (95%
CI, 17-22%) and 30% (95% CI, 28-31%) respectively and showed a non-significant decrease
in the main study periods. The higher stroke attack rates in the coalfields suggest
future prospective studies are necessary in identifying the underlying risk factors.
Copyright © 2003 by National Stroke Association
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
November 30,
2002
Received:
October 22,
2002
Footnotes
*Address reprint requests to Yang Wang, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, John Hunter Hospital, Locked Bag No. 1, Hunter Regional Mail Centre, 2310 NSW, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
**1052-3057/03/1202-0001$30.00/0
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
