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June 5, 2008Visiting the South's 'Stroke Buckle' Increases Risk of Stroke Death |
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From Ascribe Newsfeed: It might not only be the state of your health but also the state you visit that increases the chances of dying from a stroke, a new University of Florida study finds. Simply traveling to a region in the coastal Southeast raises the odds of a visitor succumbing to a stroke, while residents who leave the area reduce their chances of suffering the same fate, said Ilan Shrira, a University of Florida psychologist. "For decades the coastal plains of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have had a high incidence of stroke deaths compared to the rest of the country," he said. The "stroke buckle" is so named because it is located within the larger and more commonly known "stroke belt," eight states in the southeastern United States that have a stroke death rate nearly one and a half times that of the rest of the country, Shrira said. Among the many explanations proposed for the existence of the stroke belt and stroke buckle are poorer health care, infectious agents, genetic predispositions and environmental toxins in the water or soil, Shrira said. "Most investigations into disease and death look at individual-level factors such as genes, diet, exercise and the like," Shrira said. AScribe transmits news releases directly to newsroom computer systems and desktops of major media organizations via a supremely trusted channel - The Associated Press.
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