Medical News
Health
22 May 2019
Strokes occur when a part of the brain’s blood supply is cut offAnthony Devlin/PA Wire
By New Scientist staff and Press AssociationOver the course of a decade, the mortality of strokes has halved in England.
Stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. The rate of people dying from this condition decreased by 55 per cent between 2001 and 2010.
The analysis looked at data from almost 800,000 adults in England who were admitted to hospital with acute stroke or who died from a stroke during that period.
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In men, overall death rates dropped from 140 per 100,000 people in 2001, to 74 per 100,000 people in 2010. In women, they decreased from 128 per 100,000 to 72 per 100,000.
In 2001, 42 per cent of men and 44 per cent of women who experienced a stroke did not survive beyond 30 days, the study found. By 2010, this figure was 26 per cent in men and 29 per cent in women.
While the overall number of strokes dropped by around 20 per cent over the decade, there was a rise of 2 per cent every year among people aged 35 to 54 years old.
“The increase in stroke event rates in young adults is a concern,” the University of Oxford team said. “This suggests that stroke prevention needs to be strengthened to reduce the occurrence of stroke in people younger than 55 years.”
Journal reference: British Medical Journal