People are understandably concerned when health conditions or infectious diseases that were once well-managed start increasing again, but proper education and advancements in medicine mean we often see the opposite. Declining rates of smoking, for instance, have led to far fewer people getting lung cancer. Ditto for the way serious cases of COVID-19 rapidly declined as the number of people who got vaccinated against the virus increased.
Despite still being the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, stroke is another example of an area we’re seeing improvement. Data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that far fewer Americans die of stroke today than in years past. This decrease is due, in part, to improvements in controlling major stroke risk factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Significant improvements are still needed, however, as someone in the country is dying of stroke about every three minutes.