Someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 53 seconds.
Though not universally fatal, stroke is the third leading cause
of death, and nearly 150,000 people die annually as a result of
stroke. Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the US.
About 750,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year, and there are
nearly 4,400,000 stroke survivors struggling with lasting
effects of their stroke at any one time in the US. Strokes occur
when blood flow to brain tissue is compromised. This is most
commonly caused by atherosclerosis. This disease occurs in all
humans to some extent, but is accelerated by certain co-
morbidities (the presence of more than one health condition) or
risk factors. There are some risk factors that cannot be
modified, such as age, gender, heredity and ethnicity, that have
influence on the rate of progression of this disease. There are
also modifiable risk factors that create a predisposition to
stroke such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol,
smoking, obesity, cardiac di