Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Validity of comparisons of stroke incidence between studies or time periods depends on the completeness of ascertainment. Ascertainment cannot be reliably assessed indirectly by statistical methods, such as capture-recapture. We report the first use of direct methods to determine the completeness of different ascertainment strategies in a population-based stroke incidence study (Oxford Vascular Study). ⋯ The core methods of ascertainment used in some stroke incidence studies lead to significant underascertainment. However, direct assessment of ascertainment suggests that the supplementary methods used in recent studies can lead to near-complete ascertainment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Age as a determinant of adverse events in medically treated cryptogenic stroke patients with patent foramen ovale.
Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is associated with cryptogenic stroke. There is no study that assessed the effect of age on adverse event rates in cryptogenic stroke patients with PFO. The purpose of this retrospective analysis from PFO in Cryptogenic Stroke Study (PICSS) database was to assess the effect of age on the risk of adverse events in medically treated cryptogenic stroke patients with PFO. ⋯ In this exploratory analysis, the presence of PFO in the younger cryptogenic stroke patients did not increase the risk of adverse events. However, in the older patients, PFO significantly increased the risk of adverse events.