5 Thing You Should Know About Stroke

16:43 - 13 November 2013

Just as heart attacks exist, there are ‘brain attacks’ also known as strokes. They are emergency cases as well which must be treated swiftly in order to prevent permanent neurological damage. World Health Organization (WHO) defined stroke as a "A stroke is a clinical syndrome characterized by rapidly developing clinical symptoms and / or signs of focal, and at times global loss of cerebral function, with symptoms lasting more than 24 hours or leading to death, with no apparent ...

While the risk of stroke significantly reduced in Europe and America, it has increased in Nigeria; Ogungbo et al estimated it to be 116 per 100,000 of the population, a large amount of Nigerians pass on as a result of the silent killer.

Here are some points of note concerning stroke.

1. The medical term for stroke is Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA). ‘Cerebro’ referring to the brain and ‘vascular’ referring to the blood vessels. Opposed to popular belief, strokes don’t only happen in older people, there is pediatric stroke (occurring in children)

2. There are two major causes of strokes

3. There is a global acronym to spot if someone is suffering from a stroke, it’s called F*A*S*T

It’s important that once all these symptoms are present the nearest hospital shouldn’t be the immediate destination.

4. Strokes can be prevented by adhering to the following preventive measures.

With respect to World Stroke Day 2013, Stroke Care International will be hosting a Stroke Awareness and Prevention programme at the Ikeja mall from 8am- 8pm targeted at, health care workers, Stroke survivors, Relatives of stroke survivors and the general public.