Stroke Belt

[1] The Stroke Belt was first identified in 1962 by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) researchers who noted a concentration of high stroke death rates in the Atlantic coastal plain counties of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

[5][6] Analysis by the CDC of U.S. mortality statistics from 1991 to 1998 found that for both blacks and whites, counties with the highest stroke death rates were in the southeastern states and the Mississippi Delta region.

Stroke death rates for states ranged from a high of 169 per 100,000 in South Carolina to a low of 89 per 100,000 in New York.

[9] A study reported in 2011 found that people over age 45 living in the eight "stroke belt" states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee had an 18 percent higher incidence of cognitive decline than people in other U.S. regions.

[6][9][15][16] Numerous possible contributing factors have been identified, including hypertension, low socioeconomic status, diet, cultural lifestyle, quality of healthcare facilities, smoking, and infections.