Prevalence of stroke in the elderly: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Aging is a critical period of human life and paying attention to the needs and diseases of this period is considered as a social necessity. One of the most neurological debilitating diseases in the elderly is stroke. Considering that the previous studies have reported different prevalence rates of stroke in the elderly, the present study aimed at combining, summarizing, resolving inconsistencies in the results of conducted studies, examining the impact of potential factors, and estimating the prevalence of stroke in the elderly using systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: The present systematic review and meta-analysis study was performed during 1996–2022. All relevant published studies were searched in SID, MagIran, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) databases and Google Scholar motor engine using related MeSH/Emtree and Free Text words. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed using I2 index. Results: In the initial search, 13,583 studies were found. After excluding irrelevant studies, eventually, 36 eligible studies were included in meta-analyses. The overall prevalence of stroke was estimated to be 7.4 % (95 % CI: 6.2–8.9 %) in the elderly, 7.0 % (95 % CI: 5.7–8.6 %) in male, and 6.4 % (95 % CI: 5.3–7.8 %) in female. The prevalence of stroke enhanced with increasing the mean age of elderly and decreased with increasing the year of publication (P