Stroke affects 150,000 people each year in France. To limit the after-effects, it is still necessary to recognize the symptoms and act quickly.
More than 150,000 new people are affected by a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) each year in France. This is why on the occasion of European Stroke Prevention Day, which takes place on May 14, it seems important to raise public awareness of the importance of immediate treatment of the pathology.
A stroke occurs when blood flow to or in the brain is interrupted by a blocked blood vessel (ischemic stroke or cerebral infarction) or when a blood vessel bursts causing hemorrhage (hemorrhagic stroke) in the brain . As a result, brain cells no longer receive the oxygen and nutrients they need to function normally. Some are damaged, others die.
Recognize the symptoms. Certain signs, corresponding to the areas most frequently affected, should make one think of stroke. These include numbness, sudden weakness or paralysis of an arm, leg, face or half of the body. Other common symptoms include difficulty speaking (aphasia), impaired vision, or problems with balance, coordination or walking. Finally, the best known is undoubtedly the severe and sudden headache with no known cause. These signs should alert even if they are brief and if they subside within a few minutes.
Act fast. Every moment counts. It is therefore necessary to act as quickly as possible before the lesions are irreversible. One minute lost means two million neurons destroyed. When faced with one or more symptoms, adopt the right reflex: immediately call ’15’ Immediate management allows the diagnosis to be confirmed and treatment to be started very quickly, which will reduce the cerebral lesions and thus the risk of sequelae and deaths linked to these serious accidents. After four hours, it is much more difficult and more dangerous to dissolve the clot.
How to prevent it ? Watch his blood pressure is to preserve his brain. Arterial hypertension is the main risk factor for stroke, 10 million people are hypertensive in France, half ignore it, and especially 1/3 of hypertensive patients treated are not properly balanced. For this reason, it is very important to diagnose it and follow its treatment. But other risk factors exist. Among them, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, chronic alcoholism, or oral contraceptives
Strokes affect 1 person every 5 seconds in the world. The WHO speaks of a pandemic and projects an increase in the incidence of stroke from 16 million in 2005 to 23 million in 2030. It is one of the main causes of death in France. The first for women and the leading cause of acquired disability in adults.
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