(Bethesda, MD, Tuesday, May 10, 2022) – May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and experts are urging people to know the signs of a stroke and the importance of acting in time.

The National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) developed the Know Stroke. Know the Signs. Act in Time. campaign to help educate the public about the symptoms of stroke and the importance of getting to the hospital quickly.

Each year in the United States, there are more than 800,000 strokes. Stroke is a leading cause of death in the country and causes more serious long-term disabilities than any other disease.

According to the CDC, someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds and every four minutes, someone dies of stroke. In 2018, one in eight deaths from cardiovascular disease was due to stroke.

Risk of stroke varies with race and ethnicity and the risk of having a first stroke is nearly twice as high for blacks as for whites, and blacks have the highest rate of death due to stroke.

The country’s highest death rates from stroke are in the southeastern United States.

When treated quickly, survival is possible and damage can be greatly reduced. That’s why understanding your risk for stroke, knowing signs of stroke, and acting in time are critical and can make all the difference for you or a loved one. If you have a greater chance of stroke, there are also steps you can take now to help prevent stroke in the future.

NINDS is the nation’s leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. For more information, visit www.stroke.nih.gov.

NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.