Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States.
About 4,500,000 stroke survivors are alive today. 2,200,000 are males and 2,300,000 are females. About 500,000 of these are first attacks and 100,000 are recurrent attacks. In 1998 females accounted for 61.4 percent of stroke deaths. Stroke is more common in men than in women.