International Journal of Stroke, 2019. 0(0), 1-8, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1747493019884517

Characteristics and management of stroke in Korea: 2014-2018 data from Korean Stroke Registry

Han-Yeong Jeong, Keun-Hwa Jung; Heejung Mo; Chan-Hyuk Lee; Tae Jung Kim; Jong-Moo Park; Mi Sun Oh; Ji Sung Lee; Beom Joon Kim; Joon-Tae Kim; Jinkwon Kim; Woo-Keun Seo; Jun Lee; Jae-Kwan Cha; Sang-Bae Ko; Hee-Joon Bae and Byung-Woo Yoon

Abstract

Background

Lifestyle changes and evolving healthcare practices in Korea have influenced disease patterns and medicalcare. Since strokes have high disease burden in countries with aging populations, it is necessary to evaluate the associatedrecent disease characteristics and patient care patterns. The Korean Stroke Registry is a nationwide, multicenter,prospective, hospital-based stroke registry in Korea used to monitor these changes across the population.

Aims

We aimed to evaluate the recent status of clinical characteristics and management of stroke cases in order toidentify changes in the Korean population across time.

Methods

This study used Korean Stroke Registry data from patients experiencing ischemic stroke or transient ischemicattack patients, between 2014 and 2018. We analyzed data on demographics, risk factors, stroke subtypes, and treatmentsthat included thrombolysis.

Results

A total of 39,291 patients (mean age 68.0 ±13.0, 58.3% male) were analyzed. The proportions of hypertension,diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, atrial fibrillation, and prior stroke were 63.4%, 30.9%, 27.7%, 19.4%, and 17.1%, respectively.In the stroke subtype analysis, the frequency of large artery atherosclerosis was highest (32.6%), followed bycardioembolism (21.3%) and small vessel occlusion (19.9%). Acute reperfusion therapy was conducted in 15.3% of cases(11.7% using intravenous tPA and 7.3% using intra-arterial thrombectomy). Intra-arterial thrombectomy also demonstrateda steep increasing trend over time (RR 1.095 (1.060–1.131), p<0.001).

Conclusions

This study provided analysis of nationwide, hospital-based, quality-controlled data from the KoreanStroke Registry database regarding changes in the characteristics, risk factors, and treatments of strokes in Korea.

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1747493019884517
• ISBN or ISSN: 1747-4930

• 본 연구는 질병관리본부 연구개발과제연구비를 지원받아 수행되었습니다.
• This research was supported by a fund by Research of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.