 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
THURSDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) -- More than half of people who experience what appear to be symptoms of stroke do not seek medical treatment, new research shows.
The trend is a disturbing one, because rapid treatment can mean the difference between life and death, and between a minor and a major disability.
Text Continues Below
"People don't need to be afraid to go get these symptoms looked at," said study author Virginia J. Howard, an epidemiologist with the University of Alabama-Birmingham. "They may be nothing, but prevention is so much better than treating the stroke. This is not like the boy who cried wolf."
Howard presented her findings Wednesday at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting in San Francisco.
According to the association, about 700,000 people in the United States suffer a stroke each year, and about 150,000 people die of stroke, making it the third leading cause of death in the United States. Between 15 percent and 30 percent of stroke survivors will suffer permanent disability.
Racial and regional disparities in stroke prevalence and death are well-known. In particular, black Americans have higher death rates from stroke, and blacks and other people living in the southeastern United States are more likely to suffer a stroke.
This presentation is part of a larger study trying to tease out the mysteries of the so-called U.S. Stroke Belt: the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana, which have higher-than-average stroke death rates.
"We're looking at reasons for the differences in stroke mortality between different people and different parts of the country," Howard explained.
Researchers have already recruited more than 20,000 participants and are working toward 30,000. Participants include black and white adults aged 45 years and older.
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >>
|
.gif)
