Journal of the Indian Medical Association
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Community-based longitudinal study on stroke is rare in India. It has been predicted that the stroke incidence will be higher in developing countries than developed countries. Hence a five years prospective study was planned to carry out in the rural Bengal, India based on WHO protocol to determine the incidence rate, risk factors, morbidity and mortality profile of stroke. ⋯ Follow-up after one year revealed speech improvement in 47%, residual spasticity in 46% and independency in activities daily living in 62% of cases. Age and sex matched case control study has shown that hypertension (OR - 2.79), heart disease (OR - 6.20) and smoking (OR - 3.92) are significant risk factors. This study had indicated a higher age adjusted incidence rate of stroke in India as compared to that of developed country and hypertension, heart disease and smoking are important risk factors.