Other General Risk Factors Like heart attack and sudden cardiac death, stroke appears to be more common in the morning hours. The risk of stroke for women of all ages and young men increases on weekends and holidays. Shorter people have a higher risk than taller individuals. About 160,000 Americans die of stroke each year, and the incidence of death from stroke is rising. Some experts believe the increase may be due to the aging population and a decline in detection and treatment of high blood pressure.
Stroke also is responsible for more injuries from falls than any other medical condition.
Nearly one-third of all strokes are fatal within the first 30 days, but more than half of stroke victims survive beyond five years. People who suffer ischemic strokes have a better chance for survival than those who experience hemorrhagic strokes. Although most people who suffer subarachnoid hemorrhages survive the first stroke, many experience rebleeding or a dangerous complication in which the blood vessels go into a spasm and deprive the brain of oxygen. One third of those who survive either an ischemic or hemorrhage stroke suffer neurologic problems and nearly all have at least some injury in the brain. One small 1998 study reported, however, that in people who survived for many years after a stroke the chances for independent living were about the same as for their peers who had not suffered strokes, and the stroke patients even appeared to be less depressed.