Hospital-based prospective registration of acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack in Japan.

The purpose of this study was to obtain fundamental information on patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) in Japan. We prospectively registered consecutive stroke and TIA patients who visited 156 participating hospitals within 7 days of onset between May 1, 1999 and April 30, 2000. A total of 16,922 patients with 70.6 +/- 11.5 years old (median 71, range 18-107) were enrolled in the study. TIA was seen in 7% of registered patients, lacunar stroke in 36%, atherothrombotic in 31%, cardioembolic stroke in 20%, and other in 6%. Hypertension was present in 61%, diabetes mellitus in 24%, atrial fibrillation (AF) in 21%, smoking in 18%, and hypercholesterolemia in 17%. Overall, 37% of patients arrived at hospital within 3 hours of symptom onset, and 50% within 6 hours. Among those who visited the hospital within 6 hours, 64% used an ambulance service. Mean NIHSS score was 8.0 +/- 7.9 (median, 5). Only 3% were treated with thrombolytic agents in acute phase of stroke. Only 19% of all patients were treated in stroke care unit or intensive care unit. The modified Rankin Scale score of 0 to 2 at discharge was observed in 61% of the patients, 3 to 5 in 32%, and the mortality rate was 7%. More than half of the acute stroke patients arrived at the hospital after 6 hours of onset, and the stroke care unit was used only in one fifth of all patients. Establishment of ideal emergency system and arrangement of stroke units are also awaited for better management and improvement of patients' outcome.