True or false: Approximately 795,000 people in the United States experience a stroke each year?

True

The statement that 795,000 Americans have a stroke each year is TRUE based on American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines. 1

Evidence Supporting This Figure

• The 2011 AHA/ASA Guidelines for the Prevention of Stroke explicitly state: "Approximately one quarter of the 795,000 strokes that occur each year are recurrent events," confirming this exact annual stroke incidence figure for the United States 1

• This breaks down to approximately 600,000 first-time strokes and 200,000 recurrent strokes annually 1

• More recent data from 2012 AHA/ASA guidelines corroborate this, stating "There are 800,000 new or recurrent strokes annually in the United States," with 600,000 being first strokes and 200,000 being recurrent 1

Stroke Type Distribution

• Of these annual strokes, 87% are ischemic, 10% are primary intracerebral hemorrhages, and 3% are subarachnoid hemorrhages 1

Clinical Context

• This figure represents a substantial public health burden, with stroke being the fourth leading cause of death in the United States 1

• The absolute number of stroke deaths was 134,148 in 2008, occurring at a rate of approximately one every 4 minutes 1

• Despite improvements in age-adjusted stroke rates over recent decades, the absolute number of strokes remains high due to population aging 1