Stroke: Scottish data

Detailed data on stroke can be found on the stroke area of the ISD website.

Incidence

The age and sex adjusted incidence rate for CVD decreased by 6% from 261 cases per 100,000 population in 2013/14 to 246 per 100,000 in 2022/23 .

Incidence is strongly related to age. The age and sex adjusted rate for the under 75s in 2022/23 was 125 per 100,000 population but for the over 75 age group, it was 1,471 per 100,000 population. However, While the rate for the over 75 age group has seen a significant decrease of 10.3% in the last decade, the rate in the under 75 age group has remained essentially unchanged. Ten year trends for CVD incidence (numbers, crude rates and age-sex standardised rates) for NHS boards, by age group and sex, can be found in PHS's Stroke publication.

Mortality

The age-sex standardised mortality rate for CVD and stroke has fallen in the last 10 years. The rate for stroke decreased by 23.8% over the last ten years, from 53 per 100,000 population in 2013 to 40 per 100,000 population in 2022.

Between 2012 and 2021 the fall in age and sex adjusted mortality rates for stroke was slightly larger for females (24.8%) than males (22.7%). In six out of the last ten years, the adjusted mortality rate was slightly higher for females than males.

Ten year trends for CVD mortality, including stroke and subarachnoid haemorrhage (numbers, crude rates and age-sex standardised rates) for NHS boards and local authorities, by age group and sex, can be found inn PHS's Stroke publication.

There is a strong relationship between deprivation and stroke mortality. This is particularly so in the under 65 age group where the standardised mortality ratio (SMR) is over five times higher for the most deprived 10% of the population, compared to the least deprived 10% of the population. More details are in PHS's stroke publication.

Hospital discharge data

In the last decade, the age-sex standardised discharge rate for stroke has shown an overall increase by 20% from 398 per 100,000 population in 2013/14 to 479 in 2022/23. The trend was similar in both men and women, but there has been a slightly larger increase in the rate for men (22.6%) than for women (17.6%).

Ten year trends for all CVD hospital activity, including stroke, transient ischaemic attack and subarachnoid haemorrhage (numbers, crude rates and age-sex standardised rates) for NHS boards by age group and sex, can be found in PHS's Stroke publication.

Survival

The percentage of people surviving 30 days or more following their first emergency admission to hospital with a stroke improved slightly over the last 10 years from 84% in 2012/13 to 85% in 2021/22. Further information is provided in PHS's stroke publication. 

Primary care data

Prevalence data is now available from the Scottish Primary Care Information Resource (SPIRE) for the last three financial years for Stroke and TIA at Scotland level and the figures show a fall for Stroke and TIA prevalence over the three year period. The Stroke and TIA prevalence fell from 2.3 per 100 people in 2018/19 to 2.2 in 2022/23.

Cardiovascular prescribing

From 2013/14 - 2022/23, the numbers of patients receiving at least one cardiovascular related drug rose from 1.34 million to 1.5 million patients, an increase of 12.1%.

Further information, including the total cost of these same prescription drugs, is provided in PHS's Stroke publication.

Ambulance service activity

Over the last ten years the number of Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) incidents for stroke increased overall from 11,311 to 13,865. The number of conveyances increased by a similar amount from 10,754 to 12,831.

Standardised rates

Please note all age sex standardised rates listed above are standardised using the 2013 European standard population. For more information, see Appendix A1 of PHS's Stroke Statistics Update.