- Increasing age. People of all ages, including children, have strokes. However, roughly two-thirds of all strokes occur in people over age 65. Stroke risk doubles in each succeeding decade, so a 75-year-old has twice the risk of a 65-year-old.
- Sex (gender). In most age groups, more men than women will have strokes in a given year. However, women account for more than half of all stroke deaths because they tend to have strokes later in life. Pregnant women have a higher stroke risk, as do women taking birth control pills who also smoke or have high blood pressure or other risk factors.
- Heredity (family history). Blood relatives of people who have had strokes are at increased risk.
- Race. The risk of stroke among African Americans is twice that of Caucasians. This may be due to the fact that blacks have higher rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. Increased rates of poverty and poor access to health care may also contribute.
NOTE: In the 11 states of the so-called Stroke Belt, stroke rates are higher than in the rest of the country. Both blacks and whites in these states are at increased risk, but it is particularly high for African Americans. Basically, the Stroke Belt consists of the states of the Confederacy.
The states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia make up the "Stroke Buckle." Blacks and whites in these states have even higher stroke rates than the other states. African Americans in these states have among the highest stroke rates of any group anywhere in the world. Where the average age of first stroke is 65 for a white man in Minnesota, it is 45 for a black man in the Stroke Buckle.
- Prior stroke or heart attack. Anyone who has had a stroke is at much higher risk of having another one. About 28 percent of strokes happen in people who have already had one. Previous heart attacks also increase stroke risk.
