Hanzhang Xu, assistant professor, recently co-submitted a research proposal to the World Stroke Organization entitled “Patient Characteristics, Quality of Care, and In-hospital Outcomes for Acute Ischemic Stroke ─ An International Comparison of China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the United States Stroke Registries." The proposed start date is Jan. 1, 2022. She is the PI on the grant; other team members are from other team members are from the Department of Neurology, DCRI, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, and China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases. 

Stroke is the second leading cause of death and disability worldwide, with 5.5 million people died of stroke in 2016. While the global variation in stroke burden has been reported in the literature, little is known about the disease presentation, prevalence of modifiable risk factors, stroke care patterns, and outcomes across the countries. Understanding these difference will help inform health care policy and facilitate the development of stroke prevention and treatment strategies in a global context, which aligns with the mission of the World Stroke Organization to fostering the best standards of practice and to influencing policies for stroke prevention and improved health services. Similar to US, Asian Pacific countries including China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore experience a substantial burden of stroke, in the context of high prevalence of CVD risk factors and rapidly aging society. The overall objective of this international comparison study is to examine the differences in patient characteristics, treatment pattern, quality of care and outcomes. Comparison of these countries is facilitated by the presence of common data elements in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guideline (AHA/ASA GWTG)-Stroke Registry, the China National Stroke Registry (CNSR), the Nationwide Survey of Acute Stroke Care Capacity for Proper Designation of Comprehensive Stroke Center in Japan (J-ASPECT), the Clinical Research Collaboration for Stroke in Korea (CRCS-K), and the Singapore Stroke Registry (SSR). Our study is expected to identify gaps and yield actionable insights to guide clinical practice and health-care policy worldwide to improve the quality of care, prevent avoidable deaths, disability, and recurrent vascular events from stroke.