Stroke mortality set to increase to 9.7 million in 2050

Stroke mortality is projected to increase to 9.7 million deaths by 2050, according to a report issued by the World Stroke Organization-Lancet Neurology Commission on Stroke and published online Oct. 9 in The Lancet Neurology.

Noting that the incidence of stroke is increasing in young and middle-aged people globally, Valery L. Feigin, M.D., from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and colleagues forecast the burden of stroke from 2020 to 2050.

The authors note that stroke mortality is projected to increase by 50 percent, from 6.6 to 9.7 million from 2020 to 2050, with disability-adjusted life years increasing from 144.8 to 189.3 million during the same period. Based on this assessment, the authors developed recommendations in the four pillars of the stroke quadrangle: surveillance, prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation.

Reduction of the global burden of stroke by implementing primary and secondary stroke prevention strategies and evidence-based acute care and rehabilitation services is urgently needed. To facilitate this goal, measures include establishment of a framework for monitoring and assessing the burden of stroke and stroke services; implementation of strategies for people at any increased risk of cerebrovascular disease; planning and delivery of acute stroke care services; promotion of interdisciplinary stroke care services; and creation of a stroke advocacy and implementation ecosystem involving all relevant stakeholders.

"If the recommendations of this Commission are implemented, the burden of stroke will be reduced substantially worldwide by 2031 and beyond," the authors write.

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