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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Researchers say a growing number of people may be suffering from silent strokes as they age. Silent strokes do not cause any symptoms, so people dont realize theyre having a stroke. However, they still damage brain tissue.
According to investigators who conducted brain scans on participants in the Framingham Offspring Study, ten percent had evidence of the lesions, even though theyd never been diagnosed with stroke.
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The study involved about 2,000 people who have been undergoing clinical exams every four to eight years. All are children of the original participants in the Framingham Heart Study. At the time of this study, their average age was 62.
After conducting the brain scans, the investigators went back and looked at whether people who had the silent strokes, also called silent cerebral infarctions or SCIs, had any risk factors for the strokes. Results showed they did. In fact, all of the components in the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile were positively associated with an increased prevalence of silent strokes on the scans.
An irregular heartbeat known by doctors as atrial fibrillation, or AF, was especially linked to the condition. AF, which is the most common type of irregular heartbeat in people over age 65, doubled the likelihood of a silent stroke in the study. High blood pressure and specifically high systolic blood pressure (the top number in the blood pressure reading) were also important in predicting the strokes. Elevated blood levels of homocysteine came into play as well.
SOURCE: Stroke, published online June 26, 2008
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