ABSTRACT
For the purposes of this review, the definition of stroke will be that used by the World Health Organisation — that is, 'a syn drome of rapidly developing clinical signs of focal (or global) disturbance of cerebral function, with symptoms lasting 24 hours or longer or leading to death, with no apparent cause other than of vascular origin'.1 This is the definition that most epide miological studies have used, and consequently it is likely that the total burden of stroke has been underestimated, as silent cerebral infarction has not been included.
