Studying Strokes in The Stroke Belt, which includes Alabama

UAB reports the study will try to determine why African-Americans in Alabama have a significantly higher stroke risk than white Alabama residents. They write:

The REGARDS (REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study will be funded through 2023 by a $20.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). It has received nearly $100 million in grant funding since it began in 2003.

You can read the UAB news release about the study HERE.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stroke information, including this:

Stroke Statistics

• Stroke kills about 140,000 Americans each year—that’s 1 out of every 20 deaths.¹
• Someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds. Every 4 minutes, someone dies of stroke.²
• Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. About 610,000 of these are first or new strokes.²
• About 185,00 strokes—nearly 1 of 4—are in people who have had a previous stroke.²
• About 87% of all strokes are ischemic strokes, in which blood flow to the brain is blocked.²
• Stroke costs the United States an estimated $34 billion each year.² This total includes the cost of health care services, medicines to treat stroke, and missed days of work.
• Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability.² Stroke reduces mobility in more than half of stroke survivors age 65 and over.²