Is the rate of cerebral hemorrhages declining among stroke patients in South America?

Recent stroke registries suggest that the rate of cerebral hemorrhages is declining among stroke patients in South America. High rates of cerebral hemorrhages (approaching 40% of stroke cases) reported in pioneer registries during the 1990s have not been duplicated in more recent studies. In contrast, almost all studies recruiting patients from 2003 on, reported less than 20% of cerebral hemorrhages among their stroke patients. Intermediate rates of hemorrhagic strokes (from 25% to 27%) were noted among registries recruiting patients by the end of the 20th century and the start of the new Millennium. We also noted a significant declining rate of hemorrhagic stroke over the past 20 years at our Institution. In a series of 651 consecutive first-ever stroke patients included in the Hospital-Clínica Kennedy stroke registry (Guayaquil), cerebral hemorrhages accounted for 26·3% of patients recruited between 1990 and 1994 but for only 16·5% of those seen between 2005 and 2009 (P=0·03). More longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings and to determine whether the reported declining rate of hemorrhagic strokes in South America is related to increase life expectancy of the population, or to changes in lifestyle, dietary habits, or some other specific stroke risk factors not well evaluated so far.