Stroke In America

Stroke has been around for many years. Galen first recognized stroke over 2,400 years ago. Americans managed to cut the stroke death rate in half during the 1970s and the 1980’s. Greek physician Hippocrates described it as a medical condition in which people suddenly lose the ability to walk or speak. Because of the typically sudden and extreme nature of the symptoms, Hippocrates referred to the condition as apoplexy, a Greek term meaning, “struck with violence.” Today this condition is known as stroke. He also described cases in which right-arm paralysis was accompanied by impaired speech, possibly the first clinical description of aphasia . In 130–210 C.E., Greek physician Galen describes four symptoms often accompanying apoplexy/stroke a loss of consciousness, changes in speech, a breathing pattern resembling that seen in deep sleep, and alterations of pulse. (Gillard)
As revealed, “Users can view county-level maps of heart disease and stroke by racial/ethnic group, along with maps of social environmental conditions and health services.” (“Stroke statistics” 2) in figure 1 below shows men’s stroke incidence rates are greater than women’s are at younger ages but not at older ages. The male/female incidence ratio is 1.25 at ages 55-64; 1.50 ages 65-74; 1.07 at 75-84 and 0.76 at 85 and older. Being a man the male sex is at the higher risk of having a stroke than a