Stroke and American Indians/Alaska Natives

• In general, American Indians/Alaska Natives and non-Hispanic whites have similar rates of strokes (cerebrovascular disease) and stroke-related deaths.

Diagnosed Cases of Stroke:

Age-adjusted percentage of stroke among persons 18 years of age and over, 2018
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
3.0	2.7	1.1

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-1a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

Death Rate:

Age-adjusted stroke death rates per 100,000 (2018)
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native / Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Men	29.7	35.7	0.9
Women	31.1	35.6	1.0
Total	30.7	36.0	0.9

Source: CDC 2021. National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 69, No. 13. Table 10.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/nvsr69-13-508.pdf [PDF | 2.05MB]

Risk Factors:

There are several risk factors related to stroke. Some of these risk factors are:

Obesity and Overweight

– See Obesity and American Indians/Native Americans

Hypertension

– See Heart Disease and American Indians/Native Americans

High Cholesterol

– See Heart Disease and American Indians/Native Americans

Cigarette Smoking

– See Heart Disease and American Indians/Native Americans