Stroke: Scottish data

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

Incidence

The age and sex adjusted incidence rate for CVD decreased by 9% from 262 cases per 100,000 population in 2014/15 to 239 per 100,000 in 2023/24 .

Incidence is strongly related to age. The age and sex adjusted rate for the under 75s in 2023/24 was 126 per 100,000 population but for the over 75 age group, it was 1,382 per 100,000 population. However, While the rate for the over 75 age group has seen a significant decrease of 15.5% 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 12.7% over the last ten years, from 48.3 per 100,000 population in 2014 to 42.1 per 100,000 population in 2023.

Between 2014 and 2023 the fall in age and sex adjusted mortality rates for stroke was slightly larger for females (15.9%) than males (9.4%). In eight 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 12.1% from 422.2 per 100,000 population in 2014/15 to 473.4 in 2023/24 . The trend was similar in both men and women, but there has been a larger increase in the rate for men (14.6%) than for women (8.8%).

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 has been consistently between 84% to 86% over the past ten years. 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 2023/24.

Cardiovascular prescribing

From 2014/15 - 2023/24, the numbers of patients receiving at least one cardiovascular related drug rose from 1.36 million to 1.55 million patients, an increase of 14.4%.

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

Ambulance service activity

Over the last six years the number of Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) incidents for stroke increased overall from 11,547 to 14,379. The number of conveyances increased by a similar amount from 11,133 to 13,466.

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.