The continuing decline in the incidence of stroke.

The incidence of stroke has continued to decline in the population of Rochester, Minnesota, up to the end of the last decade. The rate of occurrence of new episodes of stroke in the period 1975-1979 was only 46% of the equivalent rate during the period 1945-1949. The magnitude of the decline in incidence rates was similar in both sexes, but the timing differed. Females showed a progressive decline beginning early in the period of observation, but most of the decline in males occurred in the last 10 years of the study.