Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability globally. With recent advancements in the availability of electronic health data, new opportunities exist to leverage Big Data (e.g. population-level administrative or registry data) being collected around the world to gain deeper insights on the health impacts of stroke globally.

The vision of INSPIRE-STROKE is to create an enduring system for routine international pooling of Big Data on important stroke outcomes that are not covered in current systems.

INSPIRE-STROKE will monitor outcomes following stroke by:

• Comparing country-level observational data

• Fostering a scientific community to facilitate international benchmarking

• Using advanced methods and best-practice standards to ensure findings are reliable and robust

The INSPIRE-STROKE Coordinating Centre has been approved by Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval no. 41990) to conduct this project.

The initial establishment of INSPIRE-STROKE is being funded by a pilot project grant awarded from the STOPstroke NHMRC Synergy Grant (1182071). Research fellowship support has also been obtained from the National Heart Foundation of Australia for investigators Prof Kilkenny (105737) and Dr Dalli (107125).