Measuring Stroke in the Population: Quality of Routine Statistics in Comparison with a Population-Based Stroke Registry

The validity of routine stroke data (official mortality statistics and hospital discharge registries) and a population-based MONICA stroke registry was assessed in a population of 309,806 25- to 74-year-old people in Sweden. The ''true'' number of strokes in the population was estimated by screening for non-stroke diagnoses in death certificates and hospital discharge records and by a period of intensified search for otherwise unrecognized...