Strokes kill about 150,000 Americans each year and are the leading cause of adult, serious, long-term disability in the United States. Approximately 4,400,000 stroke survivors are alive today. Estimates indicate that stroke accounts for more than half of all patients hospitalized for acute neurological disease. Twenty-eight percent of annual brain attack victims are under age 65. From 1986 to 1996, the death rate from stroke declined 14.8 percent, but the actual number of stroke deaths rose 6.9 percent.
Strokes occur in men more than women, but women die more often as a result of stroke.
In 1996, females comprised 60.9 percent of stroke fatalities. Stroke is the second leading cause of death in American women ages 45-64, killing more females than breast cancer. Click here to view the Online Resources page of this Web.