Bulgaria is among EU countries with highest mortality from brain stroke

There are four times as many people dying of brain stroke in Bulgaria compared to other EU countries, according to a 2021 report by the European Commission.

In 2023, 45,000 brain stroke patients were registered in Bulgaria, of which more than 5,500 died in hospital. This was said by Assoc. Prof. Rosen Kalpachki, head of the Brain Stroke Treatment Centre at St. Anna Hospital", during an expert meeting dedicated to cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

There are 70 neurological units in Sofia, but not all of them have "intensive, resuscitation beds" to treat patients who have had a stroke, said Assoc. Prof. Kalpachki.

In Bulgaria the death rate from stroke is 320 people per hundred thousand population, added Assoc. Prof. Kalpachki quoted by BTA.

In 2023, 133 hospitals declared that they treated brain strokes, and 49 of them indicated that they did one thrombolysis (one of the stroke treatments) in the year.

According to Assoc. Prof. Kalpachki, only three percent of stroke victims in Bulgaria are treated by thrombolysis.