May Stroke Awareness & Prevention Tips
MAY STROKE AWARENESS & PREVENTION TIPS
#1) I was a healthy, active woman who suffered a stroke at 50 proving it can happen to anyone (Joyce Beatty).
Read more about Congresswoman Beatty’s stroke survivor story.
#2) There are approximately 7 million stroke survivors in the U.S. (National Stroke Association).
#3) Each year, 795,000 people in the U.S. experience a stroke (National Stroke Association).
#4) STROKE SYMPTOMS:
•SUDDEN numbness or weakness of 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.
(National Stroke Association).
#5) Strokes occur less often in children than in adults, but childhood stroke but is not rare. The estimated number of children who suffer a stroke each year exceeds the number of children with brain tumors (Nationwide Children’s Hospital).
#6) The causes of stroke in children and in adults are very different. Stroke in children is almost never due to atherosclerosis, the most common adult risk factor. Instead, children develop stroke because of birth defects involving the heart or brain blood vessels or because of sickle cell disease (Nationwide Children's Hospital).
#7) Recent research has identified a safe way to identify the children with sickle cell disease who are at greatest risk for stroke and confirmed that periodic blood transfusions strikingly reduce the risk of stroke in these high risk children (Nationwide Children’s Hospital).
#8) The American Heart Association published in 2008 thorough evidence-based recommendations by a panel of experts on the diagnosis and treatment of various forms of strokes in children (Nationwide Children's Hospital).
#9) Pediatric stroke is expensive. The cost of acute inpatient stroke care for US children is 40-50 million dollars annually, and another $42,000 per child will be spent during the first year after dischard from the hospital (Nationwide Children's Hospital).
#10) Know the warning signs (Joyce Beatty).
On average, every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke (National Stroke Association).
#11) More women than men have strokes National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke).
#12) There are geographic disparities in stroke mortality, with higher rates in the southeastern U.S. This is known as the “stroke belt” (National Stroke Association).
#13) On average, every 4 minutes, someone dies of a stroke (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute).
#14) Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death (CDC, National Center for Health Statistics).
#15) Stroke is a leading cause of serious long term disability in the U.S. (US Census Bureau).
#16) Each year, about 55,000 more women than men have a stroke (American Heart Association).
#17) Current smokers have a 2 to 4 times increased risk of stroke compared with nonsmokers or those who have quit for less than 10 years (American Heart Association).
#18) Overall, randomized clinical trial data indicate that the use of estrogen plus progestin, as well as estrogen alone, increases stroke risk in postmenopausal, generally healthy women and provides no protection for postmenopausal women with established CHD and recent stroke or TIA (American Heart Association).
#19) Sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for stroke, increasing the risk of stroke or death 2-fold (American Heart Association).
#20) Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability in the United States (Survey of Income and Program Participation, a survey of the US Bureau of the Census).
#21) Stroke patients 85 years of age and older make up 17% of all stroke patients (American Heart Association).
#22) The mean cost per person for stroke care in the Unites States in 2009 was estimated at $6018 (American Heart Association).