Abstract
The Takashima Stroke Registry is a disease registration system for stroke established in Japan in 1988. This stroke registry is a population-based, prospective, observational study whose objective is to monitor trends in the incidence and case-fatality of stroke in Japan. Takashima County is located in the rural area of the Shiga prefecture in central Japan, having a stable population of approximately 54,000. It is a farming community with similar cultural values and standards of living throughout the region. The population has remained fairly stable during the 16-year study period. 1750 stroke cases (men 937 and women 813) were registered during 1988–2002. The average ages of the men and women patients were 69.4 and 74.4 years respectively. Stroke diagnostic criteria are established for the Monitoring System for Cardiovascular Disease commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan. These criteria were based on WHO-MONICA project. Takashima registry system was planned to capture all the cases in the study area by covering all the hospitals of the county. To ensure that eligible patients hospitalized outside the county were not omitted, registration procedures were also conducted at three high-level medical facilities within the Shiga region but outside the county. Due to the high rate of computed tomography use in Japan the identification of stroke cases within the study area is almost complete and stroke diagnosis and classification are accurately recorded.
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