Between 2000 and 2007, the death rate of men treated in hospitals for stroke tumbled by 29 percent compared to a 24 percent decline for women, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Men’s faster decline in death rate widened the death rate disparity even more. Men’s death rate for every 1,000 admissions for stroke went from 123 in 2000 to 87 in 2009, compared with women’s 127 deaths in 2000 to 96 deaths per 1,000 admissions in 2007.
The Federal agency found other gender variations in hospital deaths rates during the period as well:
- Men’s heart failure death rate fell by 52 percent compared with women’s 46 percent. But men were about as likely to die from heart failure in 2007 as women—28 deaths versus 29 deaths, respectively, per 1,000 admissions.
- Conversely, women’s heart attack death rate fell slightly more than men’s—39 percent versus 37 percent. But by 2007, women hospitalized for heart attack were still more likely than men to die—77 deaths versus men’s 58 death per 1,000 heart attack admissions.
- Regardless of gender, people who had private insurance experienced decreases in heart attack and heart failure death rates of 32 percent and 41 percent, respectively while Medicaid patients experienced declines of 27 percent and 34 percent for the same conditions. Medicare patients’ death rates fell by 38 percent and 51 percent—the most for both conditions.
This AHRQ News and Numbers is based on data in Trends in Hospital Risk-Adjusted Mortality for Selected Diagnoses by Patient Subgroups, 2000-2007.