
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102210517
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Medium

STROKE DEATH RATE STILL HIGHEST IN SOUTHERN, MIDWESTERN `BELT'

The overall death rate from strokes is declining but they continue to occur more frequently in a "stroke belt" that encompasses nine Southern states and Indiana, the American Heart Association says.

One reason for the relatively high incidence of stroke in those areas is their comparatively high population of black Americans, said Dr. Hermes Kontos of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.

"This group has a much greater risk of death and disability from stroke because of the much higher incidence of blood pressure," Kontos said. "But some of it, too, might well be related to cigarette smoking and socioeconomic factors."

Kontos is chairman of the American Heart Association's Stroke Council, which begins its annual meeting today in San Francisco.

The stroke belt stretches across Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi and Indiana, Kontos said.

The heart association reported that the death rate from strokes declined by 33 percent between 1978 and 1988, the latest year for which figures are available. Figures for the stroke-belt area were not immediately available.

About 150,000 Americans died from strokes in 1988, making strokes the leading cause of death after heart attacks and cancer, the heart association said. An estimated 500,000 Americans suffer strokes each year.

About 60 percent of stroke deaths occur in women, and researchers have noted disturbing signs that the incidence of stroke might be increasing in women, Kontos said.

"So it's declining in incidence overall, but apparently it doesn't affect all groups the same way," he said.

One-third of the nearly 3 million Americans who have survived strokes have permanent disabilities. In one study, 31 percent of stroke survivors were unable to care for themselves without help, the heart association said.

Risk factors for strokes include high blood pressure, heart disease and a high red blood cell count, the heart association said.

Strokes are more common in older people, but 28 percent of those who suffer a stroke each year are under 65, the statistics show. An estimated 23,000 people ages 30 to 44 and 121,000 ages 45 to 64 will have strokes this year.

by CNB