Sudden numbness or weakness of the face,
arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or
understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of
balance or coordination
Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
If you or someone you know suffers from any of these symptoms, call
9-1-1 at once.
Why should you care?
Every 45 seconds, someone in America has a stroke. Every 3.1 minutes,
someone dies of one.
Stroke killed an estimated 167,661 people in 2000 and is the nation's
3rd leading cause of death, ranking behind diseases of the heart and all
forms of cancer. Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term
disability in the U.S.
Each year about 700,000 people experience a
new or recurrent stroke. About 500,000 are first attacks, and 200,000
are recurrent attacks
About 4.7 million stroke survivors are
alive today
In 1999, more than 1.1 million American
adults reported difficulty with functional limitations, activities of
daily living, etc., resulting from stroke
In 2000, females accounted for 61.4% of
stroke fatalities
Stroke accounts for about half of all
patients hospitalized for acute neurological disease
According to the NHLBI's Framingham Heart
Study, 28% of annual stroke victims are under age 65
From 1990 to 2000 the death rate from
stroke declined 12.3%, but the actual number of stroke deaths rose 9.9%
The 2000 death rates per 100,000 population
for stroke were 58.6 for white males and 87.1 for black males; and 57.8
for white females and 78.1 for black females
From the early 1970s to early 1990s, the
estimated number of noninstitutionalized stroke survivors increased from
1.5 to 2.4 million
Stroke costs the United States $30 to $40
billion per year
