Connecticut Sees Uptick In Stroke Deaths

While the prevalence of strokes in Connecticut has essentially remained the same in recent years, progress in slowing the number of deaths from stroke has declined in the state, a development the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls “disturbing.”

The spike reverses a national decades-long trend that brought stroke death rates down. From 1999 to 2014, deaths from strokes were on the decline in the state and nationally. But a recent CDC report found that Connecticut was among 39 states in which the decline in stroke deaths has slowed or the number of stroke deaths has started to increase. From 2012 to 2015, the number of stroke deaths in Connecticut increased 9.5 percent, from 1,263 to 1,384. Stroke deaths were highest in the northeast and northwest regions of the state, CDC data show.