An Oxford scientist is today demanding more money for vital research into stroke - to prevent an increase in the UK's £2.3bn care bill for the condition.

Dr Peter Rothwell, the UK's only researcher worker specifically on strokes, claims stroke patient care costs almost twice that given to heart disease victims.

He has predicted that it will soar as the UK's population gets older and more people suffer strokes.

Writing in today's Lancet, he said the Government and charities spent £5m annually on research into the condition - less than an eighth of the £43m invested in heart disease research.

He said: "These findings highlight the fact that research into the causes and prevention of stroke has been seriously neglected in the UK and elsewhere, especially when compared to levels of funding for heart disease.

"The ageing of the population in both the developing world and the developed world will lead to a major increase in the number of strokes over the next two decades.

"Unless more funding is available for research into preventive strategies, we will pay an increasingly high price in dealing with the burden of stroke. Some research is now under way, but much more needs to be done."

Each year, there are around 125,000 strokes in the UK, accounting for ten per cent of all deaths. The majority are not fatal, but patients are often left chronically disabled.

There are currently 250,000 handicapped stroke sufferers, who often need prolonged hospital stays, followed by community or nursing home care.

Stroke, which is caused when the brain is starved of blood, is the most common cause of neurological disability, dementia and epilepsy in the elderly, and a frequent cause of depression.

Dr Rothwell, who is based at a new Stroke Prevention Unit at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, said many long-standing questions about the condition had gone unanswered because of poor funding.