Stroke Types
Ischemic Stroke
There are two basic types of strokes. The most common (86%) is an ischemic stroke where a blood vessel in the brain becomes blocked by plague or a blood clot and prevents oxygen and blood to getting to the area of the brain. When this occurs within 4-6 minutes blood vessels begin to die. Every minute after a stroke 1.9 million brain cells die.
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Hemorrhagic Stroke
The other type of stroke is hemorrhagic or bleeding type of stroke, which occurs 14% of the time and can occur because of an aneurysm that ruptured or a weak blood vessel in the brain that ruptured.
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Ischemic Stroke Risk Factors
Knowing what your risk factors are can help to prevent strokes. Reducing your stroke risk factors and changing your life style can prevent 75% of strokes. Stroke risk factors are divided into two categories. Those we are born with (Non-modifiable) and those which can be improved (Modifiable). For printable information click here.
- Age - Among adults age 20 and older, the estimated prevalence of stroke in 2006 was 400,000 (about 2,500,000 males and 3,900,000 females). As we age our risk factors for stroke increase. Among people ages 45–64, 8 to 12 percent of ischemic strokes and 37 to 38 percent of hemorrhagic strokes result in death within 30 days.
- Race - Blacks have twice the risk for having a stroke compared to whites and for those who survive their stroke they report their activity level is decreased to white stroke survivors. Hispanics have a higher risk for having stroke at a younger age and a higher risk of having a hemorrhagic (bleeding)type of stroke.
- Gender - After stroke, women have greater disability than men. Each year, about 55,000 more women than men have a stroke. Because women live longer than men and stroke occurs at older ages, more women than men die of stroke each year. Women accounted for 60.6 percent of U.S. stroke deaths in 2006.
- Prior Stroke - Each year about 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke. About 610,000 of these are first attacks, and 185,000 are recurrent attacks.
- Prior TIA - About 15 percent of strokes are preceded by a TIA. About half of patients who experience a TIA fail to report it to their healthcare providers. After TIA, the 90-day risk of stroke is 3 to 17.3 percent, highest within the first 30 days. Within a year of TIA, up to a quarter of patients will die. People who have a TIA have a 10-year stroke risk of 18.8 percent.
- Heredity - Children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop it themselves. Most people with a strong family history of heart disease have one or more other risk factors. Just as you can't control your age, sex and race, you can't control your family history. Therefore, it's even more important to treat and control any other risk factors you have.
Reference:
Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics — 2010 Update, American Heart Association
Stroke – 2010 American Diabetes Association
The Texas Stroke Institute Stroke Team is devoted to the communities that we serve and are dedicated to helping you reduce your personal risk factors for stroke. The following risk factors are modifiable, meaning that through changing your current processes you can control or reduce the likelihood that you will have a stroke.
Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Over 780,000 Americans will suffer a stroke this year and nine out of ten stroke survivors will sustain long-term impairment. Stroke costs the US healthcare system over 62 billion dollars annually.