Financial Cost of Strokes to Reach $2.2 Trillion

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Stroke Costs Reaching Trillions
Without Action, Financial Cost of Strokes to Reach $2.2 Trillion by 2050
By Jennifer Warner, WebMD Medical News

Aug. 16, 2006 -- The financial cost of strokes in the U.S. will soar to more than $2.2 trillion over the next 45 years if no action is taken to improve preventive care or treatment, according to a new study.

Researchers say much of the bill for those strokestroke-related costs will be for black and Latino stroke patients, who tend to suffer from strokes at an earlier age and receive poorer preventive care. In fact, about half of the stroke-related costs by 2050 -- including treatment, rehabilitation, and lost wages -- will come from stroke victims under the age of 65.

Researchers say the $2.2 trillion economic burden is actually a conservative estimate because it is based on current rates of the conditions that put people at risk for stroke, such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, which are currently on the rise.

"Doing the right thing now ultimately could be cost-saving in the future, but we have a long way to go before all Americans receive adequate stroke prevention and emergency stroke care," says researcher Devin Brown, MD, MS, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School, in a news release. "If our society is not going to do it for the right reasons, perhaps we can do it because it's going to be obscenely expensive." ...

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/126/116362.htm