Stroke incidence and usage rate of thrombolysis in a Japanese urban city: the Kurashiki stroke registry.

Background: To investigate stroke incidence and rate of thrombolytic therapy in an urban city of around 500,000 residents.

Methods: Patients suffering acute stroke in Kurashiki City (population 474,415) between March 2009 and February 2010 (inclusive) and admitted to 1 of 10 hospitals throughout the city were prospectively enrolled.

Results: We enrolled patients with first-ever stroke (n = 763; men 415; median age 72 years) and first-ever/recurrent stroke (n = 1009; men 552; median age 73 years).