According to Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist in CDC’s Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, the increased prevalence is largely due to lifestyle factors including obesity, high blood pressure and smoking. This report also notes that caring for stroke survivors cost our economy an estimated $18.8 billion during 2008, plus an extra $15.5 billion due to lost productivity and premature mortality.

Since higher education levels show a decreased prevalence of stroke in this report, it seems only natural to assume that health education and outreach would help combat this. As reported in a previous post, the  El Paso County Public Health department has partnered with Harrison High School to integrate health literacy education into classes beyond the traditional physical education and health offerings. If programs such as this were implemented nationwide, it could help reduce the incidence of stroke and other preventable causes of long-term disability. Such outreach efforts would probably more than pay for themselves in the long run.

What outreach efforts to improve health outcomes for U.S. citizens do you think should be better funded? Tell us!

Stories can be more powerful in communicating critical information than just presenting the facts. And as any parent of a teenager will tell you, teens will listen more to peers than parents. Using teen-created videos to communicate essential health messages is another great idea to promote this aspect of health literacy in young people.

Have you used videos or other forms of storytelling to teach young people about important health issues? Tell us about it!