Hospitalization of stroke patients down by one-third over past month
The number of people hospitalized due to ischemic stroke has declined by one-third over the past month, according to East Tallinn Central Hospital.
Head of East Tallinn Central Hospital's center of neurology Toomas Toomsoo said numbers are down both in terms of hospitalized infarctions as well as ischemic stroke patients.
An Ischemic stroke occurs when a vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed. It accounts for about 87 percent of all strokes.
The provision of rapid medical care in case of a stroke is vital, spokespeople for East Tallinn Central Hospital told BNS on Monday.
The number of patients with cerebral infarction (obstruction of the blood supply to the brain) has decreased nearly 30 percent at the hospital over the past month, Toomsoo said, adding that a similar trend has also been observed in Finland, Germany, Sweden, the United States and China.
"It appears from a recent overview and comments by neurologists on the www.medscape.com medical portal that the hospitalization of patients who have suffered an ischemic stroke has rapidly decreased both in the United States and China, and the number of thrombectomies has declined nearly 50 percent," he said.
"We can only assume what the causes are to this, but I do not believe it is because people have stopped calling for an ambulance when they experience stroke symptoms," Toomsoo said. "Whether or not it is due to people staying at home, being scared, taking their medication - we don't know. But the decline in ischemic strokes is significant and correlates with myocardial infarctions."
--
Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!
Editor: Helen Wright