Each year, stroke afflicts more than 700,000 Americans and kills 160,000. African-Americans have a higher incidence of stroke than the general population and suffer a higher percentage of severe strokes.
Stroke is the leading cause of hospital discharge to long-term nursing facilities.
A stroke is a failure of the circulatory system of the brain. The two categories of stroke are ischemic and hemorrhagic. The more common, ischemic, is caused by a blockage of an artery or other blood vessel. Ischemic strokes kill brain cells downstream from the blockage by cutting off the blood's supply of oxygen and glucose that brain cells need to survive. There are three kinds of ischemic strokes.