2015 WORLD STROKE DAY
FACT SHEET
About stroke
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Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted. Without oxygen-rich blood, brain cells die.
Most strokes (87%) are caused when a clot or a mass blocks a blood vessel, cutting off blood flow to a part
of the brain. 1 These are called “ischemic” strokes.
A TIA (transient ischemic attack), often called a “mini stroke” or “warning stroke”, is a temporary blockage
to the brain that resolves on its own. Approximately 15% of all strokes are heralded by a TIA. 1
U.S. stroke incidence
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Someone in the U.S. has a stroke every 40 seconds. Someone dies from one every 4 minutes.1
Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death in the U.S., claiming nearly 130,000 lives per year. 2
About 800,000 people in the United States have a stroke every year. 1
Stroke is the leading preventable cause of disability. 1
African Americans have nearly 2x the risk for a first-ever stroke than white people, and a much higher
death rate from stroke. 1
World Stroke incidence
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Stroke is the No. 2 cause of death behind heart disease. 1
Someone has a stroke every 2 seconds. 3
1 in 6 people will have a stroke in their lifetime. 3
33 million people worldwide had a stroke in 2010. Slightly more than half (16.9 million) were first
strokes.1
Warning signs, EMS use, treatment (U.S.)
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8 percent of Americans can identify each letter in the F.A.S.T. acronym for stroke. 4
Among the words in the stroke acronym F.A.S.T., “Face” has the highest recognition (42%), followed by
“Arm” (36%), “Speech” (33%), and “Time” (27%).4
1 in 3 people cannot name at least one sign of stroke. 4
Most people say they would call 9-1-1 for stroke, but fewer people are arriving at the ER by ambulance
after suffering stroke symptoms.5
Hispanic men are the least likely to use EMS for stroke (about 52%). 6
African-Americans have the highest stroke mortality and are less likely than whites to arrive within 3
hours and receive the clot-busting drug tPA. 7
Nationwide, only 3-5 percent of patients receive the clot-busting drug tPA and fewer than 1 percent
receive endovascular therapy.8
1
Heart disease and stroke statistics—2015 update: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/12/18/CIR.0000000000000152.full.pdf+html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf
http://www.world-stroke.org/advocacy/world-stroke-campaign
4 Ad Council Stroke Continuous Tracking Results September, 2015
5 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db194.pdf
6 http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/4/8/e002099.full
7 http://www.strokejournal.org/article/S1052-3057(12)00150-4/pdf, https://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/43/7/1912.full.pdf+html,
http://www.ishib.org/ED/journal/23-1/ethn-23-01-29.pdf
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Adeoye O, Hornung R, Khatri P, Kleindorfer D. Recombinant tissuetype plasminogen activator use for ischemic stroke in the United States: a doubling of
treatment rates over the course of 5 years. Stroke. 2011;42:1952–1955.