Sex-specific stroke incidence over time in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Study
Citation Manager Formats
Make Comment
See Comments

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: Recent data suggest stroke incidence is decreasing over time, but it is unknown whether incidence is decreasing in women and men to the same extent.
Methods: Within our population of 1.3 million, all incident strokes among residents ≥20 years old were ascertained at all hospitals during July 1993–June 1994 and calendar years 1999, 2005, and 2010. A sampling scheme was used to ascertain out-of-hospital cases. Sex-specific incidence rates per 100,000 among black and white participants, age- and race-adjusted, were standardized to the 2000 US Census population. Trends over time by sex were compared; a Bonferroni correction was applied for multiple comparisons.
Results: Over the 4 study periods, there were 7,710 incident strokes; 57.2% (n = 4,412) were women. Women were older than men (mean ± SE 72.4 ± 0.34 vs 68.2 ± 0.32, p < 0.001). Incidence of all strokes decreased over time in men (263 [confidence interval 246–281] to 192 [179–205], p < 0.001) but not in women (217 [205–230] to 198 [187–210], p = 0.15). Similar sex differences were seen for ischemic stroke (men, 238 [223–257] to 165 [153–177], p < 0.01; women, 193 [181–205] to 173 [162–184], p = 0.09). Incidence of all strokes and of ischemic strokes was similar between women and men in 2010. Incidence of intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage were stable over time in both sexes.
Conclusions: Decreases in stroke incidence over time are driven by a decrease in ischemic stroke in men. Contrary to previous study periods, stroke incidence rates were similar by sex in 2010. Future research is needed to understand why the decrease in ischemic stroke incidence is more pronounced in men.
GLOSSARY
- ARIC=
- Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities;
- GCNKSS=
- Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Study;
- ICD-9=
- International Classification of Diseases–9;
- ICH=
- intracerebral hemorrhage;
- mRS=
- modified Rankin Scale;
- SAH=
- subarachnoid hemorrhage
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Supplemental data at Neurology.org
Editorial, page 982
- Received September 9, 2016.
- Accepted in final form May 3, 2017.
- © 2017 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
For assistance, please contact:
AAN Members (800) 879-1960 or (612) 928-6000 (International)
Non-AAN Member subscribers (800) 638-3030 or (301) 223-2300 option 3, select 1 (international)
Sign Up
Information on how to subscribe to Neurology and Neurology: Clinical Practice can be found here
Purchase
Individual access to articles is available through the Add to Cart option on the article page. Access for 1 day (from the computer you are currently using) is US$ 39.00. Pay-per-view content is for the use of the payee only, and content may not be further distributed by print or electronic means. The payee may view, download, and/or print the article for his/her personal, scholarly, research, and educational use. Distributing copies (electronic or otherwise) of the article is not allowed.
Disputes & Debates: Rapid online correspondence
- Author response to Dr. Kuller & Dr. Zedde
- Tracy E. Madsen, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Alpert Medical School of Brown UniversityTracy_Madsen@brown.edu
- Jane Khoury, Heidi Sucharew, Dawn Kleindorfer (Cincinnati)
Submitted January 05, 2018 - Women and stroke: A matter of education?
- Marialuisa Zedde, vascular neurologist, Neurology Unit-Stroke Unit, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova-IRCCS, Reggio Emilia (Italy)zedde.marialuisa@ausl.re.it
- Francesca Romana Pezzella, Rome, Italy; Zuzana Gdovinova, Kosice, Slovak Republic; Christine Kremer, Lund, Sweden; Valeria Caso, Perugia, Italy
Submitted November 03, 2017 - Stroke Trends By Age and Sex May Be Misinterpreted
- Lewis H. Kuller, Professor Emeritus, Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburghkullerl@edc.pitt.edu
Submitted August 21, 2017
REQUIREMENTS
If you are uploading a letter concerning an article:
You must have updated your disclosures within six months: http://submit.neurology.org
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.