CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASES

There were 4,309 resident deaths from cerebrovascular diseases (stroke) in 1996 (Table M6). Although the number of deaths from stroke decreased only 0.5 percent between 1995 and 1996 (Table M2), the total state age-adjusted death rate from stroke was almost 20 percent lower in 1996 than it had been ten years earlier (-19.3%). The death rates were lower in every age group including a 25.5 percent decline among 45 through 64 year olds. There were only 11 deaths from stroke in the resident population under 25 in 1996; 86.5 percent of stroke deaths occurred in persons 65 and over.