Women and Stroke

Women are twice as likely to die from stroke as breast cancer –

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.

This information is from The Women and Stroke Survey fielded between March 16 – April 3, 2010 by Harris Interactive on behalf of HealthyWomen and in partnership with the American College of Emergency Physicians, and National Stroke Association. The survey was funded by Genentech, a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group.

For more information on Women and Stroke, visit http://www.healthywomen.org/healthcenter/stroke.