Battling Heart and Stroke

My husband and I watched “The Namesake” the other day and I remember that scene where the father Ashoke presented himself at the ER and had to stand in line for a long time, leading to his death due to a heart attack. Unfortunately, this scenario does not only happen in movies but in real life as well. In a  CVD news item last week, I cited that the average waiting time in an ER is almost an hour - 60 minutes which can make the difference between recovery and disability, between life and death.

This study reported in the journal Stroke looked at 15,117 stroke victims from 46 hospitals listed in the North Carolina Stroke Registry (January 2005 to April 2008) and the findings are as follows: More →

Having problems with your hearing? Maybe it is time to check your stroke risk.

A nation-wide research study in Taiwan based on health insurance records indicates that sudden loss of hearing might be an early sign of risk to stroke. In fact, this symptom may be able to predict the actual stroke two years before it happens.

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Is there a link between dementia and ministrokes? This seems very likely, according to researchers who conducted studies on several people with dementia or cognitive impairment.

What is dementia?

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 Who said that life is always fair? The more you have, the less likely you are to die young. This is because those who have more money are less likely to suffer from stroke at an early age, according to a study by Dutch researchers recently published in the journal Stroke.

The study was part of the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study and looked at 20,000 adults in the US. Their results show that the risk of early stroke is much lower among wealthy Americans between 54 and 65 years of age. However, as soon as a person reaches the age of 65, money doesn`t make a difference anymore - stroke risk is the same, rich or poor.

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Musical artist, tenor, actor, stage performer, radio host, all these words describe Benjamin “BeBe” Winans. But why do we chose BeBe to be our May celebrity for Battling Heart and Stroke?

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CNN reports today 17 May 2008:

“Sen. Edward Kennedy was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital in Massachusetts Saturday morning, a well-informed, prominent Democratic source in that state told CNN. The source said the 76-year-old senator had “symptoms of a stroke.”

The latest update: More →

By Jason Gluckman

In the U.S. around 70,000 people suffer a Stroke each year. Rehab is crucial to help the victims of Strokes cope with the effects of a Stroke and recover to a normal and healthy life.

How well a patient recovers from a Stroke depends on many factors. Minimizing brain damage during the Stroke will make Rehab faster and more effective. Rehab cannot cure the Stroke but can help in long-term recovery of the aftereffects of brain damage.

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by: Rita Jenkins

The type of stroke that results when a blood clot travels to the brain — called an ischemic stroke — is more likely to occur on days when the air contains a larger concentration of particulate matter, according to a study published online in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) examined air quality on a total of 37,000 days in nine cities. Risk of hospitalization for ischemic stroke was 1 percent higher on days with relatively high levels of air pollution, compared with low-air pollution days, reports lead author Gregory Wellenius, ScD, postdoctoral fellow in cardiology at BIDMC.

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From the Better Health Channel - Strokes - Signs and Symptoms

Stroke - signs and symptoms

Stroke is often referred to by doctors as a cerebrovascular accident, but the term is not an accurate one since stroke is rarely an ‘accident’. The underlying conditions of a stroke (called cerebrovascular disease) are usually present for years before a stroke occurs, although the symptoms of a stroke may occur suddenly.

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