Hospitalizations for stroke rose to nearly 35 per 10,000 people during the 1990s but had decreased again to under 32 per 10,000 by 2009. Improvements were generally seen among older patients. The average length of in-hospital care for stroke got shorter as well.
The death rate among hospitalized stroke patients fell from 9 percent in 1989 to 5 percent in 2009. Stroke remains the fourth leading cause of death in the US.
The latest data comes from the National Center for Health Statistics.
