Thursday, May 02, 2013

Stroke awareness - a global issue

May is Stroke Awareness Month, but stroke awareness is a global issue. And as I've blogged many times, it's not just an senior citizen issue. Here's one more example why - Swedish stroke data has good news and bad:
Overall ischemic stroke rates have declined sharply in Sweden over the past 25 years, and one-year mortality rates after a first stroke have been halved across all age groups, according to new longitudinal research. But in a troubling new finding, rates of first stroke, as well as four-year mortality rates after an initial stroke, are on the rise among younger Swedes.
Dr Lena Björck (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) and colleagues presented the new data in a trio of posters here at EuroPrevent 2013. ...
But the rate of deaths over the years has been declining, she noted. "The mortality after stroke is decreasing in all age groups, over a long period—1987 through 2010. And that's a positive thing," she said. And of note, while the numbers are most striking in the older patients, where stroke is more common, the relative risk reduction was actually slightly greater in the youngest group (age 18-44) than in the 45-64- and 65-84-year-old groups."

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