RNS: Stroke risk, May 2007
TIME: 2:57
URL: www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2007/hmstroke.htm
Additional Audio:
A University of Michigan Health Minute update on important health issues
What’s your “stroke IQ”?
Most of us don’t know enough about America’s #3 killer and #1 cause of disability – or about how to protect ourselves
Suggested lead: Stroke is the third largest cause of death and the top cause of disability. So why do so many Americans still have such a low stroke IQ? Here’s Andi Mcdonnell with more.
When it comes to stroke, America has a pretty low IQ.
So, the University of Michigan Stroke Program is offering a test that can check anyone’s stroke IQ, and maybe bump it up a few points. Don’t worry, the test comes complete with answers.
Question 1: What is a stroke?
Answer: It’s a brain emergency. Just like a heart attack is a heart emergency, a stroke is a “brain attack.”
U-M Stroke Program’s director Dr. Lewis Morgenstern (M.D.), explains …
“All strokes are not created equally. They are very different. About 85percent of all strokes occur when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked and the resulting part of the brain that is served by that blood vessel dies; that’s called an ischemic stroke. 10-percent of strokes occur when a blood vessel bursts; that’s called an intracerebral hemorrhage; and 5-percent of strokes occur when an aneurysm ruptures and there’s other bleeding in the brain, and that’s called a subarachnoid hemorrhage.”
Question 2: What are the signs that someone is having a stroke?
Answer:
“The most common symptoms are sudden onset of weakness or numbness on one side of the body, difficulty in speaking or understanding or losing vision in an eye, like a shade coming down from above in one eye. You can also have unexplained clumsiness or dropping objects or an unexplained fall; those are the classic symptoms of stroke and again they can occur one at a time or in some sort of cluster.”
Question 3: What should you do if you think you, or someone near you, is having a stroke?
Answer:
“If people do suffer symptoms of weakness or numbness on one side of the body or difficulty speaking or understanding or unexplained clumsiness or falling they should call 911 whether or not they have the risk factors.”
Question 4: Do only elderly people have strokes?
Answer:
“Stroke is a disease that occurs more commonly in people as they get older, but I’ve taken care of children with stroke, people in their teens, 20’s, 30’s, 40’s with stroke. It can occur at anytime.”
And finally, question 5: What can people do to cut their stroke risk?
Answer:
“People need to stop smoking. I think people need to understand that if they have high blood pressure, diabetes, they’re overweight, if their diet is high in total calories and fats that they need to do something about that. They need to get on the treadmill. They need to get out walking and running in a supervised program by their primary care physician. They have to have their blood pressure checked.”
OK, pencils down! That’s the end of the Stroke IQ Test – how did you do? If you got all the way through it, you probably know more about stroke now than the vast majority of Americans do. Now, share this IQ test with everyone you know.
Andi Mcdonnell, U-M Health System News. |
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