After decades of decline, progress has slowed in preventing stroke deaths, according to a CDC Vital Signs report. The report is a “wake-up call,” CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald says.
About 3 in every 4 states showed stalled rates of decline between 2000 and 2015. In some states, the trend of declining stroke deaths has actually reversed. It is a “disturbing” finding, the researchers say—particularly because 80% of strokes are preventable.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke. Each year, > 140,000 die. Blacks continue to be hardest hit by stroke but stroke deaths are on the rise among Hispanics (by 6% each year between 2013 and 2015) and people living in the South.
Death rates continued to drop steadily between the years 2000 and 2015 among adults aged ≥ 35 years. However, people are dying of stroke at younger ages. Over the past 15 years, stroke hospitalizations have increased among adults aged 18 to 54 years. But the researchers note that risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes are also appearing in younger people. Moreover, those risk factors may not be recognized and treated in middle-aged adults aged 35 to 64 years.
The study categorizes stroke deaths in the U.S. from 2000 to 2015, by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and geographic area. It does not, however, address causes for the slowdown, although it cites other studies that point to obesity and diabetes as contributors. High blood pressure is the single “most important preventable and treatable risk factor for stroke,” the CDC says.