Prevalence of stroke in rural community--an overview of Indian experience.

Various prevalence studies of stroke conducted in different regions of rural India have been analyzed and compared with prevalence study of stroke in 51,165 rural population of Haryana. The prevalence of stoke varies in different regions of country and ranges from 40 to 270/100,000 rural population. The prevalence rates correspond to that in urban areas in same region but is much lower than stroke prevalence in metropolitan cities in India and from reported prevalence of 400-800/100,000 in Western countries. Ethnic, socio-economic and dietary factors may be responsible for this variance.