SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 8, 2011 — Researchers at the University of Utah’s Comprehensive Arrhythmia and Research Management (CARMA) Center have found that delayed-enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DE-MRI) holds promise for predicting the risks o…
A rare type of stroke can occur as a result of long airplane flights, according to a study in the June 24 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The type of stroke can occur in people who have a patent foramen ovale, or an opening between two chambers in the heart. The opening is present in about 30 percent of the general population. Air travel increases the risk of developing blood clots in the veins of the legs, which can then enter the bloodstream and block an artery in the lungs, a condition called pulmonary embolism. In some cases, the opening can allow the blood clot to enter the arteries of the brain, causing a stroke.
Women already at risk of having a stroke because they smoke cigarettes increase their stroke risk three-fold if they live with a spouse who smokes, a study conducted at the University at Buffalo has shown. The overall increase in risk of developing any form of stroke was more than three-fold in this group. On the other hand, non-smoking women whose spouses smoked did not show an increase risk of stroke.
Combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increased the risk of stroke for postmenopausal women of all ages, whether or not they had hypertension. Researchers reported these findings, which are based on women studied in the Women’s Health Initiative, today at the American Stroke Association’s 28th International Stroke Conference. Information on subgroup analysis by age, race, hypertension status and baseline risk were not detailed when this major hormone study was halted last summer. “Estrogen plus progestin increased the risk of stroke in older and younger postmenopausal women, in those with and without high blood pressure and in those with no prior history of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our finding is that this is absolutely not a strategy for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.”
People with insulin-dependent (type-1) diabetes have an increased risk of dying from a stroke, according to first-time findings from a large, community-based study reported in today’s rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Cardiovascular disease is already recognized as the main cause of long-term complications and death in patients with diabetes. The likelihood of death from cerebrovascular disease ? related to the blood supply in the brain and the No. 1 cause of stroke ? has not been previously reported for patients with type-1 diabetes. Previous studies have shown that cerebrovascular death rates are raised in patients with type-2 diabetes (non?insulin-dependent diabetes).
People with only mildly elevated systolic blood pressure have a high risk of stroke similar to those with significantly raised systolic or diastolic blood pressure, long-term follow-up of a large national population sample has shown. Moreover, the study found that the increase in stroke risk was not confined to those over 65, conventionally considered most stroke-prone: Systolic hypertension increased the risk of all types of strokes in participants as young as 45.
The emergency room may be a prime location for stroke prevention, as well as stroke treatment, a new study finds. That’s because patients with a high stroke risk due to heart rhythm problems are likely to turn up at the ER for symptoms of their irregular heartbeat, giving doctors a chance to make sure they’re on the best drugs to prevent a stroke.