Stroke Facts
Stroke is the third leading cause of death, behind diseases of the
heart and cancer.
Stroke killed 158,448 people (61.4% among women) in 1998 and accounted
for about 1 of almost 15 deaths in the United States.
At all ages, more women than men die of stroke.
28% of people who suffer a stroke in a given year are under age 65.
Compared with whites, young African Americans have a two- to threefold
greater risk of ischemic stroke, and African-American men and women
are more likely to die of stroke.
About 47 percent of stroke deaths occur out of hospital.
On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 53
seconds; every 3.3 minutes someone dies of a stroke.
Each year, about 600,000 people suffer a stroke. About 500,000 of
these are first attacks, and 100,000 are recurrent attacks. (Framingham
Heart Study, NHLBI)
About 4.5 million stroke survivors (2.2 million men, 2.3 million women)
are alive today.
The estimated age-adjusted prevalence of stroke for Americans aged
20 years and older is 2.2% for non-Hispanic white men and 1.5% for
women; for non-Hispanic blacks, 2.5% for men and 3.2% for women; and
for Mexican Americans, 2.3% for men and 1.3% for women (NHANES III,
1988-1994).
Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the
United States.
back
