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Stroke - Epidemiology Cerebrovascular disease or stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. About 500,000 strokes occur each year, and about 150,000 result in death. Age-adjusted stroke deaths are higher in African Americans and men. High blood pressure has long been established as the major risk factor for stroke. More recently, cigarette smoking and obesity also have been found to be significant risk factors for stroke.Stroke mortality rates differ substantially by State. In the 1950s, epidemiologists documented the higher than average death rate from stroke among people living in the southeastern United States compared to those living in other regions of the country. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) examined the 1980 ageadjusted stroke mortality rates by State. Eleven States had stroke death rates that were more than 10 percent higher than the U.S. average: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Ten of these States are in a contiguous cluster in the Southeast. Indiana, the remaining State, is located on the northern border of the Southeast cluster. The NHLBI designated these 11 States as the Stroke Belt. Similar to the national pattern, African American men and women in the Stroke Belt have higher death rates than white men and women. White men and women in the Stroke Belt also have a higher stroke death rate than their counterparts in other regions of the country. Thus, the higher death rates in the Stroke Belt cannot be attributed solely to the higher proportion of African Americans in these States. |
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