Population Health Research Institute

McMaster University/Hamilton Health Sciences

David Braley Cardiac, Vascular and Stroke Research Institute
237 Barton Street East
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8L 2X2
www.phri.ca

Dec 1st 2010

INTERSTROKE Investigators

Salim Yusuf, MBBS, DPhil,

FRCP(UK), FRCPC, FACC, FRSC
Telephone: (905) 527-7327
Fax: (905) 297-3781

Dear Collaborators,
We are delighted to inform you that 10,000 participants have been recruited into the INTERSTROKE
study! Clearly, this demonstrates an exciting milestone in the study. Thank you all for the outstanding
efforts and dedication, which has led to the success of this study.
As you are aware, we are targeting a total recruitment of 25,000 participants, and we believe this
can be attained with our ongoing collaboration. Over the past 6 months, there has been a gradual increase in
the monthly recruitment rates and are currently recruiting over 500 participants per month. In the coming 6
months, we hope to increase this rate to 750 participants per month with your help.
Phase-2 will provide key information on the importance of risk factors within different regions of
the world and within individual stroke subtypes. In addition, such a large sample size is needed to tease-out
the importance of genetics as a risk factor for stroke. Similar to INTERHEART, INTERSTROKE-Phase 2
will be a landmark study as it will provide novel information on the importance of traditional and emerging
risk factors for stroke. Information from INTERSTROKE will inform population-based Stroke prevention
programmes globally. We are delighted to collaborate with each of you on this very exciting and important
study.
Best Wishes,
Yours sincerely,

Martin ODonnell MB PhD MRCPI

Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine,
McMaster University
Principal Investigator, Population Health Research
Institute
McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences

Salim Yusuf, DPhil, FRCPC, FRSC

Professor of Medicine, McMaster University
Executive Director, Population Health Research Institute,
McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences
Vice President Research, Hamilton Health Sciences
Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario/Marion W. Burke Chair
in Cardiovascular Diseases

Director: Salim Yusuf D.Phil,

Associate Directors: Koon Teo MB, PhD, Sonia Anand MD, PhD,
Chief Operating Officer: Deidre L. Henne CA,
Heather M. Arthur RN, PhD, Jackie Bosch MSc, BSc.OT, Susan Chrolavicius RN, BA, Stuart Connolly MD, Beena Cracknell,
Catherine Demers MD, MSc, P.J. Devereaux MD, John Eikelboom MBBS, Ernest Fallen MD, Hertzel Gerstein MD, MSc, Jeff Healey MD, MSc, Andre Lamy MD,MHSc, Eva Lonn MD, MSc,
Patrick Magloire MD, Kamil Malikov MD, MSc, MBA, Robert Mckelvie MD, PhD, Matthew McQueen MB, ChB, PhD, Shamir Mehta MD, Carlos A. Morillo MD, Katherine Morrison MD, Madhu
Natarajan MD, Martin ODonnell MD, Janice Pogue MSc, Janette Panhuis, Parminder Raina PhD, Arya M. Sharma MD, Tej Sheth MD, Susan Stansbury,
Ellison Themeles MSc