Stress main reason for rise in stroke cases in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: The IT city of Bengaluru has seen a 15-20 per cent rise in the number of stroke patients this year and doctors say this is all due to a variety of factors including sedentary lifestyle, stress and eating junk food. Also, there is a significant rise in strokes in the young IT crowd. Every month, nearly 50-60 patients of acute strokes are admitted to city hospitals.

Nowadays, strokes in young people aged below 45 is on the rise, said Dr Praveen Kumar S, HoD, Neurology, Victoria Hospital. “This is due to stress, lifestyle and dietary habits which further leads to brain and heart diseases. So many modifiable, non modifiable, genetic factors and blood-related disorders too are responsible for strokes.”

Dr Suryanarayana Sharma P M, Consultant Neurologist and Stroke Specialist, BGS Global Hospitals said with risks in young patients being more as the brain swells fast, they should come to hospitals fast. “Swelling of brain after a stroke is faster in them and the golden hour for stroke patients is just 4.5 hours. Every minute counts as 1.9 million neurons die/minute in a stroke patient.”

Youngsters follow a hectic lifestyle — working for 12-14 hours and late night and are sleep deprived. Gorging on junk food at odd hours and ignoring fresh food including green leafy vegetables is their mantra. This lifestyle is equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes per day.

The Bangalore Stroke Support Group is an initiative of city neurologists, physiotherapists, care givers, old patients and stroke victims. This platform helps to bring awareness and preventive care about deadly stroke attacks among the public. Dr Sharma added, “In the support group, member volunteers are trained to help and assist people in getting immediate medical attention. We organise walkathons and hold sessions in coordination with residents to increase awareness on symptoms and the necessity of immediate medical care. Apart from this, we have a list of stroke ready hospitals and have shared the list with 108 ambulance, patients, etc.”

NIMHANS and Victoria Hospital which gets a high volume of patients is part of this list for saving patients from serious debilitating effects.

Victoria Hospital being a super specialty hospital, lot of patients and also referrals from other hospitals including

NIMHANS, receive tertiary care at the hospital. With in-house CT scan and round the clock service of neurologists, it is a hospital identified for treating strokes, said Dr Praveen Kumar.

Ischemic strokes

According to neurologists, people suffer from Ischemic strokes that are a result of blockages. What people are unaware of is - if they seek medical help within 3 to 4.5 hours of the stroke, the blockages may be removed with medication and possibility of brain related disabilities are reduced significantly.

Alarming increase

According to WHO, the second biggest factor for mortality is stroke and it is alarmingly increasing in India. In fact, 40 per cent of the stroke patients are from India and China. As per studies, the incidence rate of strokes every year in India is 145-154 per one lakh people compared to 107 in the US.

Symptoms

Facial Drooping, arm/leg weakness, speech difficulty, severe headache, balance loss, blurred vision and numbness on one side