Strokes in US Drop Two-Fold in Past Two Decades, Study Says

Declining rates of stroke in the U.S. is good news, though progress is not as dramatic in women and African-Americans.

Rates of stroke and subsequent death have dropped in the U.S. over the past two decades, but new research shows that not everyone has made the same gains.

Researchers followed 14,357 participants in four different U.S. communities from 1987 to 2011 and found significant stroke decrease in those 65 and older. Still, there was a necessity to lower the number of incidences in younger groups, according to the report.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found a 24 percent overall decline in first-time strokes in the past two decades, along with a 20 percent drop per decade in deaths.

The decreases can be linked to smoking cessation and hypertension medications, researchers concluded.

Agencies/Canadajournal