Head CT > Stroke > Epidemiology

Epidemiology

Stroke is a clinical term for sudden, focal neurological deficit. The following are statistics from the American Heart Association and the National Stroke Association. Stroke accounts for one out of every 15 deaths and it is the third leading cause of death in the United States. On average someone suffers from a stroke every 53 seconds and every 3.3 minutes someone dies of a stroke. Each year about 600,000 people suffer from a new or recurrent stroke. About 500,000 of these are new. The incidence and prevalence of stroke are equal among women and men, however women account for 61% of the deaths. In a given year 28% of those who suffer from a stroke are under 65. There are approximately 4.5 million stroke survivors alive today. Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. Fifty to seventy percent of survivors regain functional independence, but fifteen to thirty percent are permanently disabled. Three months after stroke, 20% of survivors require institutional care. The estimated direct and indirect annual cost of stroke in the United States is 43.4 billion dollars.