STROKE: THE FACTS
Renee E. Smith
Community Calendar Editor May 2011
Stroke kills twice as many women as breast cancer every year.
However, women in a recent survey believed breast cancer is five times more prevalent than stroke and 40 percent of women said they were only somewhat or not at all concerned about experiencing a stroke in their life.
Did you know?
* 425,000 women suffer from stroke each year, 55,000 more than men.
* Only 27 percent of women could name more than two of the six primary stroke symptoms.
* Seven out of 10 women said they are not aware they are more likely than men to have a stroke, and were not at all or only somewhat knowledgeable about risk factors.
* African-American women suffer a significantly higher number of strokes than Caucasian women, yet African American women were less likely to correctly identify what causes a stroke compared to Caucasian women.
* Stroke is a leading cause of death for Hispanic women but Hispanic women were significantly less aware of stroke symptoms than Caucasian women.
The survey was commissioned by HealthyWomen, the nation's leading independent health information source for women, in partnership with National Stroke Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians. Conducted by Harris Interactive in 2010, support for the survey was provided by Genentech Inc., a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group.