Stroke
Stroke was the second most common cause of death worldwide in 2004, resulting in 5.7 million deaths (~10% of the total). Approximately 9 million people had a stroke in 2008 and 30 million people have previously had a stroke and are still alive. It is ranked after heart disease and before cancer. Geographic disparities in stroke incidence have been observed, including the existence of a "stroke belt" in the southeastern United States, but causes of these disparities have not been explained.
The incidence of stroke increases exponentially from 30 years of age, and etiology varies by age. Advanced age is one of the most significant stroke risk factors. 95% of strokes occur in people age 45 and older, and two-thirds of strokes occur in those over the age of 65. A person's risk of dying if he or she does have a stroke also increases with age. However, stroke can occur at any age, including in childhood.
Family members may have a genetic tendency for stroke or share a lifestyle that contributes to stroke. Higher levels of Von Willebrand factor are more common amongst people who have had ischemic stroke for the first time. The results of this study found that the only significant genetic factor was the person's blood type. Having had a stroke in the past greatly increases one's risk of future strokes.
Men are 25% more likely to suffer strokes than women, yet 60% of deaths from stroke occur in women. Since women live longer, they are older on average when they have their strokes and thus more often killed (NIMH 2002). Some risk factors for stroke apply only to women. Primary among these are pregnancy, childbirth, menopause and the treatment thereof (HRT).
Read more about Stroke: History
Other articles related to "stroke, strokes":
... centimetres (108.7 cu in) inline-four engine (R4/I4) bore x stroke 81.0 by 86.4 millimetres (3.19 in × 3.40 in), stroke ratio 0.941 - undersquare/long-stroke, 445.2 cc per cylinder, compression ratio 9.0 ...
... Flapping involves two stages the down-stroke, which provides the majority of the thrust, and the up-stroke, which can also (depending on the bird's wings) provide ... At each up-stroke the wing is slightly folded inwards to reduce upward resistance ... Birds change the angle of attack between the up-stroke and the down-stroke of their wings ...
... Brain tissue survival can be improved to some extent if one or more of these processes is inhibited ... Drugs that scavenge reactive oxygen species, inhibit apoptosis, or inhibit excitatory neurotransmitters, for example, have been shown experimentally to reduce tissue injury caused by ischemia ...
... In handwriting research, the concept of stroke is used in various ways ... In engineering and computer science, there is a tendency to use the term stroke for a single connected component of ink (in Off-line handwriting recognition) or a complete pen-down trace (in on ... Thus, such stroke may be a complete character or a part of a character ...
... The 360 was named for the size of its very small air-cooled, 2-stroke inline 2-cylinder 356 cc engine mounted transversely at the rear ... By contrast, most conventional automobiles at the time used water-cooled four-stroke engines with 4 or more cylinders mounted in the front ... Two-stroke engines are lighter, simpler, easier to cold start, and produce more power for less weight because they produce power every two piston strokes, rather ...
Famous quotes containing the word stroke:
“The one prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is dissipation: and it makes no difference whether our dissipations are coarse or fine; property and its cares, friends and a social habit, or politics, or music, or feasting. Everything is good which takes away one plaything and delusion more, and drives us home to add one stroke of faithful work.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every new stroke of civilization has cost the lives of countless brave men, who have fallen defeated by the “dragon,” in their efforts to win the apples of the Hesperides, or the fleece of gold. Fallen in their efforts to overcome the old, half sordid savagery of the lower stages of creation, and win the next stage.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“When any man expresses doubt to me as to the use that I or any other woman might make of the ballot if we had it, my answer is, What is that to you? If you have for years defrauded me of my rightful inheritance, and then, as a stroke of policy, of from late conviction, concluded to restore to me my own domain, must I ask you whether I may make of it a garden of flowers, or a field of wheat, or a pasture for kine?”
—Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898)