Durham Neighborhood CompassDurham Neighborhood Compass

Why This is Important

As the CDC points out more than three quarters of a million people suffer from stroke in the United States each year - the equivalent of one happening every 40 seconds. And while many of these are preventable, stroke remains one of the leading causes of death and disability.

In 2017, 2.95% of Durham County's adult White patients (2,320 people) had a stroke.

Stroke is a condition in which blood flow to the brain is blocked or a blood vessel actually bursts and bleeds into the brain, causing brain cells to die. This leads to confusion, numbness in the body, and vision, speech or mobility impairments. People can be more at risk for reasons they have more control over (stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol) or for reasons they can't control (like racism, sex, environmental influences, stress or age). Preventive steps include: increasing physical activity, eating a healthy diet, managing stress, managing diabetes, decreasing cholesterol, and decreasing hypertension. Rehabilitation can help a person to regain some function after a stroke occurs.

To learn more about the community-level influences on chronic conditions like stroke visit Durham's Health Indicators site.

About the Data

This information is from Duke Health and Lincoln Community Health Center, provided by Duke's Center for Community and Population Health Improvement. These stroke rates are based on health care visits documented in this combined dataset, including a total of 169,115 adults of a countywide total of 245,572 (2017).

In order to preserve privacy, the data reported in the compass for this metric excludes census areas with either case counts (numerator) or total patient counts (denominator) less than 10.

When a patient has an interaction with a healthcare provider, this is called an encounter. An encounter can be a single, brief event (such as a regular primary care appointment) or it can be across multiple days (such as a hospital stay). To determine metrics for a particular year, Duke Health Technology only includes adult patients who had an encounter in that same calendar year. If a patient had a hospitalization that lasted multiple days across two calendar years (e.g. 12/15/15 – 1/15/16), DHT used the discharge date to determine their inclusion.

Source: Duke Health and Lincoln Community Health Center

Additional Resources

ResourceLearn More and Take Action
National Stroke AssociationYou can find information on stroke symptoms, managing care and connecting with stroke survivors at this site.
Stress at Work and StrokeThis article, published by the Cleveland Clinic points to research on the relationship between job stress and stroke, and ways to manage stress at work. "The researchers found that jobs with high demands and low control, such as waitress or nurses aide, were associated with a 22 percent increased risk of stroke compared with jobs with low demand and high control, such as architect or natural scientist."
Stroke Risk for WomenAnother Cleveland Clinic article focusing on why women are more at risk of stroke than men, and offering some tips on how women can stay informed of - and manage - their level of risk.
CDC Stroke ResourcesQuick facts, prevention tips, and resources you can share with others about stroke.
Duke Center for Community and Population Health ImprovementThe Duke Center for Community and Population Health Improvement is a multi-disciplinary center that leverages academic, health system, and community partnerships to improve community and population health.
Durham County Network of CareThe Durham Network of Care provides comprehensive information on local services and organizations and a Learning Center dedicated to topics related to health and well-being, as well as the ability to create a confidential and secure Personal Health Record to keep information on helpful services, contacts and your medical history.
Partnership for a Healthy Durham Obesity, Diabetes, and Food Access CommitteeGet involved by participating in monthly work group meetings focusing on increasing access to healthy foods; increasing physical activity opportunities including Healthy Mile Trails; and coordinating chronic disease education resources in Durham County.
Health IndicatorsThe Health Indicators Project site for chronic conditions data, neighborhood influences on health and resources for learning more and taking action.
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Data Distribution, 2019

Stroke (White Population)

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