[Stroke: prevalence, incidence, trends, East-West comparison. Initial results of the 1998 Federal Health Survey].

The prevalence of survival after a stroke is dependent on the incidence and the fatality rate, whereby the incidence and the fatality rate are influenced by different factors. A survey can only include the minor cases of post-stroke conditions. The prevalence figures thus only reflect the less serious or rehabilitated strokes. Despite this underrepresentation of strokes in the survey we can observe an underestimation of the stroke problem in Germany. Whereas we previously assumed 440,000 to 500,000 strokes in Germany, the projection from the data of the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey amounted to around 945,000 cases (only strokes with "minor" motor, sensory and cognitive losses and restrictions which allow a participation in the survey). The lifetime prevalence rate of the 18-< 80 year old female population is somewhat higher than the male population of the same age (n.s.). The 50 to < 60 year old men have a relatively high prevalence rate. The corresponding age specific prevalence rates increase with increasing age. There are no significant differences in morbidity between the former East and West German states, the prevalence rates of men are somewhat higher in the East and those of women in the West. We can see the following trends in a comparison of the lifetime prevalence rates between 1997/98 and 1990/92: the number of post-stroke conditions among German men 25-< 70 years old declined significantly, among women they increased slightly (n.s.); the prevalence as a whole also declined significantly among men in western Germany, among women they increased slightly (n.s.) in contrast to former West Germany the prevalence rates among men in eastern Germany increased slightly, among women they were almost cut in half. 32.8% of the population with "minor" post-stroke conditions is characterized by sensory disruptions, 32.1% by impairments when walking, 31.3% by paralyses, 20.5% by speech impairments, 17.1% by cognitive disorders and 3.1% by disturbances of consciousness.