Lessons from everyday stroke care for clinical research and vice versa: comparison of a comprehensive and a research population of young stroke patients

Background Translating knowledge derived from medical research into the clinical setting is dependent on the representativeness of included patients. Therefore we compared baseline data of patients included in a recent large study addressing young stroke in comparison to a large representative stroke registry. Methods We analysed baseline data of 5023 patients (age 18-55 years) with an acute cerebrovascular event included in the sifap1 (Stroke in Young Fabry Patients) study. For comparison 17007 stroke patients (age 18-55 years) documented (2004-2010) in a statutory stroke registry of the Institute of Quality Assurance Hesse of the Federal State of Hesse (GQH), Germany. Results Among 17007 juvenile (18-55 years) patients identified in the GQH registry 15997 had an ischaemic stroke or TIA (91%) or an intracranial haemorrhage (9%). In sifap1 5023 subjects were included. Sex distribution was comparable (men: 59% sifap1 versus 60.5% GQH) whereas age differed between the groups: median age was 46 years in sifap1 versus 49 years in GQH. Slightly higher percentages for diabetes mellitus and hypertension in the GQH registry were noted. There were no differences in stroke severity as assessed by NIHSS (median 3) and mRS (median 2). In patients with ischaemic stroke or TIA (n = 4467 sifap1; n = 14522 GQH) higher rates of strokes due to small artery occlusion and atherosclerosis occurred in older age groups; cardioembolism and strokes of other determined cause occurred more frequently in younger patients. Conclusions The comparison of baseline characteristics between the sifap1 study and the GQH registry revealed differences mainly determined by age.