Urban-rural disparities in mortality due to stroke subtypes in China and its provinces, 2015-2020.

Background: Death burden of stroke is severe in China with over one-third rural residents, but there is still a lack of specific national and high-quality reports on the urban-rural differences in stroke burden, especially for subtypes. We aimed to update the understanding of urban-rural differences in stroke deaths.

Methods: This is a descriptive observational study. Data from the national mortality surveillance system, which covers 323.8 million with 605 disease surveillance points (DSPs) across all 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China. All deaths from stroke as the underlying cause from 2015 to 2020 according to DSPs. Crude mortality rate and age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) were estimated through DSPs. Average annual percentage change was used to explain the change in mortality rate.

Results: From 2015 to 2020, the majority of deaths from all stroke subtypes occurred in rural areas. There were significant differences between the changes of urban and rural ASMRs. On the whole, the changes in urban areas were evidently better, and the ASMR differences were basically expanding. Stroke ASMR in urban China decreased by 15.5%. The rural ASMR of ischemic stroke (IS) increased by 12.9%. The rural and urban ASMRs of intracerebral hemorrhage decreased by 24.9% and 27.4%, and those of subarachnoid hemorrhage decreased by 29.5% and 40.4%, respectively. The highest ASMRs of all stroke subtypes and the increasing trend of IS ASMR make rural males the focus of stroke management.

Conclusions: The death burden of stroke varies greatly between urban and rural China. Rural residents face unique challenges.