Two thirds of all strokes occur in people over age 65. The over-50 population is expected to rise by 19 percent from 1994 to 2000, making it the fastest growing U.S. age group. This puts more people at higher risk for stroke every day. Stroke is a major and increasing factor in the late-life dementia that affects more than 40 percent of Americans over age 80. The Toll on Women Stroke kills more than twice as many American women every year as breast cancer.
Stroke has a disproportionate effect on women.
The explanation may be that stroke risk increases with age, and women generally live longer than men. In addition, women may on average be older than men at the time of stroke. Women over age 30 who smoke and take high-estrogen oral contraceptives have a stroke risk 22 times higher than average. African-Americans not only have a higher incidence of strokes than whites and Hispanics, but they also suffer more extensive physical impairments that last longer than those of other racial groups in the United States. Not only are African-Americans twice as likely as whites to have a stroke, they're also twice as likely to die from a stroke.