Today’s world is data driven so we thought it would be worthwhile to assemble a batch of relevant stroke statistics. I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO OUR ADVOCACY THAT WE HIGHLIGHT THE TREMENDOUS SIZE OF THE STROKE PROBLEM SO THAT WE CAN BETTER ADDRESS IT.
You may find some of the statistics surprising as we did.
STROKE DATA POINTS
There are a lot of strokes:
- There were 800,000 strokes in America the last time someone counted a few years ago. This has and will continue to increase during the coming years due to demographics.
- 34% of strokes occur in people under 65, 10% are under 50 – that’s 80,000 + people.
- It is a complex disease – there are many types and intensities of strokes.
- Surprisingly even children have strokes! Last year 3,000 juveniles had strokes.
- Pediatric stroke is an issue and often goes undiagnosed. For many, it’s just not on the radar! There are many more juvenile strokes!
- Stroke kills almost 130,000 Americans each year—that’s 1 out of every 19 deaths.
- One American dies from stroke every 4 minutes – the fifth most lethal disease!
- 85% of all strokes are ischemic strokes when blood flow to the brain is blocked by a clot.
- Stroke is an orphan disease – falling between cardiology and neurology. Did you ever hear of a strokologist?
- Strokes are scary – it strikes like a tornado – from out of nowhere.
- And there are many millions of people living with the after-effects of past years’ strokes.
Stroke can be considered a woman’s issue!
- 55,000 more women than men have strokes.
- Not discussed, however – more women than men are stroke caregivers – your life just changed!
- Twice as many women die from stroke as breast cancer.
- Woman are less likely to participate in clinical studies than men.
The societal costs of stroke are significant!
- Stroke costs the United States an estimated $36.5 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications to treat stroke, and missed days of work.
Stroke is the number one long-term disabling disease!
- No two strokes are the same! Rehabilitation can be lengthy and complicated.
Research expenditures are deficient in the context of the diagnoses data
and the long-term survivor/caregiver lifestyle implications!
This is particularly the case with rehabilitation research.
Why is stroke not on this list?
FEDERAL SPENDING
(National Institutes of Health)
| Cancer | $5.42 billion |
| HIV/AIDS | $3.01 billion |
| Aging | $2.49 billion |
| Heart Disease | $1.26 billion |
| Diabetes | $1.04 billion |
| Autoimmune Diseases | $838 million |
| Obesity | $834 million |
| Breast Cancer | $674 million |
| Liver Disease | $610 million |
| Alzheimer’s Disease | $566 million |
| Kidney Disease | $565 million |
Source: Centers for Disease Control
Printed in an article – Brain Trust in Florida Trend Magazine – 3/2015
- In the US, there exists an uneven patchwork of stroke care, rehabilitation and other support services which are often difficult to access.
- Stroke survivor services very limited and are geographic centric.
IT’S TIME – JOIN US AS WE CHANGE THE PERCEPTION OF STROKE!
References
- Kochanek KD, Xu JQ, Murphy SL, Miniño AM, Kung HC. Deaths: final data for 2009. [PDF-371K] Nat Vital Stat Rep. 2011; 60(3).
- Go AS, Mozaffarian D, Roger VL, Benjamin EJ, Berry JD, Borden WB, et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics—2013 update: a report from the American Heart Association
- Johns Hopkins Medicine
- National Stroke Association – StrokeSmart Magazine
