Last updated: 11/24/2009

The National Stroke Association reports that twothirds of stroke victims are over age 65. Risk is shown to double with each 10 years over age 55. Men are more at risk than women, although most stroke survivors over age 65 are women, which may be partly...

because there are more women than men in this age group. African Americans have been shown to be at greater risk for stroke than other racial groups in the United States. Risk is also higher in people who have a family history of stroke as well as people with diabetes, because of the circulatory problems associated with diabetes. People with high blood pressure, also called hypertension, have four to six times the risk of stroke.

Nearly 700,000 strokes occur in the United States each year, with about 150,000 deaths, making stroke the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. Stroke is also responsible for the high number of disabled adults in the United States; two million stroke survivors have some permanent disability. The annual cost to the country for treating stroke and disabilities caused by stroke is about $40 billion.