Prevalence of stroke--United States, 2005.

Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the United States. Stroke also results in substantial health-care expenditures; the mean lifetime cost resulting from an ischemic stroke is estimated at $140,000 per patient. Nationwide, costs related to stroke are expected to reach an estimated $62.7 billion in 2007. Stroke death rates are higher in the southeastern United States, compared with other regions of the country; blacks, American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), Asians/Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics die from stroke at younger ages than whites. Regional and national data on self-reported stroke prevalence have been published previously; however, state-specific prevalence data for persons with a history of stroke have not. To provide national-level stroke prevalence estimates by age group, sex, race/ethnicity, and education level and overall prevalence estimates for each of the 50 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), the District of Columbia (DC), and Puerto Rico, CDC analyzed data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. This report summarizes the results of that analysis and provides the first state-based prevalence estimates of stroke. The results indicated that, in 2005, substantial differences existed in the prevalence of stroke by state/territory, race/ethnicity, age group, and education level. To lower the incidence of stroke and meet the Healthy People 2010 objective to reduce stroke deaths (objective no. 12-7) and the overall goal to eliminate health disparities, public health programs should augment stroke risk-factor prevention and educational measures in disproportionately affected regions and populations.