The probability of a stroke rises in the first months after a head or neck injury
Last reviewed: 23.11.2021
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In new studies, scientists from the United States found that with neck and head injuries, the risk of developing acute cerebrovascular accident (stroke) in people under 50 rises threefold. Scientific works devoted to this problem were considered at an international conference on the problem of strokes.
In their new research project, scientists analyzed the health status of more than a million patients under the age of 50 years, and who had a head or neck injury in the past . As it turned out, out of 100 people - 11 had a stroke in the first month after the injury. In the United States alone, about two million citizens are treated monthly with various injuries, and according to experts, more than two hundred people have been hospitalized with ischemic stroke after suffering an injury. The average age of patients who developed a stroke after receiving any damage was within 37 years.
As the scientists themselves note, their discovery is quite important for science and medicine, because knowing that injuries increase the likelihood of a stroke, when a person enters the hospital you need to conduct an additional examination. According to experts, the cause of the development of strokes is the rupture of the blood vessels of the head and neck, through which important nutrients enter the brain. In case of trauma, these vessels are blocked, which leads to the development of such a life-threatening condition in the near future.
Doctors believe that if the rupture of blood vessels to evacuate immediately after a person enters the hospital with trauma, then with the help of special antithrombotic therapy it is possible to prevent the development of a stroke. In the course of the studies, it was found that a tenth of patients who suffered a stroke had such damaged vessels, but very few people were examined for this pathology before the onset of the stroke.
The research team noted that in the analysis, they considered more cases of patients admitted to the trauma centers with various head or neck injuries. In their new work, scientists plan to narrow the range of research and consider individual cases and certain types of injuries, for example, fracture of the spine, after severe traffic accidents.
Read also: Head injuries in ten times increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke
Also in recent studies, it has been found that with significant fluctuations in daytime temperatures with medium and high humidity, the probability of impaired cerebral circulation increases. At the same time, scientists have established that lowering the average annual temperature also increases the risk of stroke and death as a result of this severe condition. According to the researchers, weather conditions can become the main stress factors for people who are at risk and therefore they need to be able to act competently in the case of the first signs of this condition. According to experts themselves, several additional studies need to be carried out in order to better understand the mechanism of action of climate changes on the health of the blood vessels of the brain.