The epidemiology of childhood stroke

This paper reviews the epidemiology of childhood stroke. Stroke is an important condition in children. It is one of the top ten causes of childhood death and there is a high risk of serious morbidity for the survivors. Epidemiological data are an integral part of disease understanding and high quality studies are required to ensure that this data is robust. Incidence rates from population-based studies vary from 1.3 per 100,000 to 13.0 per 100,000. Factors found to influence incidence rates include age, gender, and ethnicity but there are also many inherent differences between studies. Temporal analysis of mortality rates from childhood stroke shows falling rates but there has been little long-term study of changes in incidence rates. Improved epidemiological data should be a goal of the national and international collaborative networks that are studying childhood stroke. (C) 2009 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.