Epidemiological studies of cerebrovascular diseases and carotid atherosclerosis in Taiwan.

Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) or stroke has been always one of the first three leading causes of death in the past four decades in Taiwan. CVD is also the most important cause of disability in the elderly. For decreasing case-fatality of stroke, modest alterations of age-specific stroke incidences, and an ageing population, CVD will still prevail in the future decades in Taiwan. There have been many studies concerning about CVD in Taiwan, especially in recent 20 years. This article focuses on reviewing epidemiological studies of CVD in Taiwan. The review includes mortality, prevalence, and incidence of stroke, hospital-based stroke registry studies, risk factor studies of stroke and carotid atherosclerosis, young stroke, and outcome and survival of CVD.