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Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
Deaths from Stroke Decline Dramatically in U.S. with Better Prevention, Treatment
Stroke deaths fell 23% in 10 years; One of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries
Dec. 5, 2013 Stroke deaths in the United States have declined dramatically in recent decades due to improved treatment and prevention, according to a scientific statement published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
According to AHA statistics, the relative rate of stroke deaths fell by 37 percent and the actual number of stroke deaths declined by 23 percent between 1999 and 2009. During the same time, the cardiovascular disease death rate declined by 33 percent.
The decline in stroke deaths is one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries, said Daniel T. Lackland, Dr. P.H., chair of the statement writing committee and professor of epidemiology at the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston, S.C.
The decline is real, not a statistical fluke or the result of more people dying of lung disease, the third leading cause of death.
The American Stroke Association commissioned this paper to discuss the reasons that stroke dropped from the third to fourth leading cause of death.
Public health efforts including lowering blood pressure and hypertension control that started in the 1970s have contributed greatly to the change, Lackland said.
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Deaths from Stroke Decline Dramatically in U.S. with Better Prevention, Treatment