12 Stroke Facts: Did You Know?
Interesting facts about strokes
Stroke Facts: Did You Know?
1. A person loses approximately 120 million neurons each hour after having a stroke.
2. Each minute after suffering a stroke, a person loses approximately 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) of myelinated fibers. Myelin is a sheath that forms around nerves that allows them to conduct information 300 times faster.
3. One study showed that people who have strokes in the night time, compared to those who have strokes in the day time, often have worse neurologic disability.
4. Approximately every 40 seconds, somebody in the United States has a stroke.
5. For someone who suffers an ischemic stroke, each hour without treatment ages the brain approximately 3.6 years.
6. About 1 in 5 women between the ages of 55 and 75 will have a stroke.
7. One study found that approximately 20% of strokes are “wake up” strokes, where the person goes to bed normal and then wakes up with stroke symptoms. Wake up strokes can lead to a delay in treatment.
8. About every 3 minutes somebody in the United States dies from a stroke.
9. Approximately 800,000 strokes occur in the United States annually. Of these 800,000, 185,000 strokes occur in individuals with a history of prior strokes.
10. 80% of strokes are preventable. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is the most treatable medical condition that can lead to a stroke. Diabetes and high cholesterol are other treatable medical conditions that increase the risk of stroke.
11. Strokes kill nearly twice the number of women as breast cancer.
12. In the United States, approximately 3.1% or 7.8 million adults have suffered from a stroke.
