Stroke now second leading cause of death
By A Reporter
2015-10-30
ISLAMABAD: People are becoming less physically active all over the country, especially those living in big cities, which has led to stroke becoming the second leading cause of death in people over 60.
This was said by Dr Mansoor Iqbal, who is a consultant neurologist at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), at a seminar organised by Shifa International Hospital (SIH).
The event was held to mark World Stroke Day which is observed worldwide to raise awareness of the lifestyle changes that could avoid a stroke.
Dr Iqbal said even though stroke was thesecond leading cause of death, it was not taken seriously in Pakistan. He said, `Stroke disables a person and in my experience I have found that disability is worse than mortality because after a few weeks, it becomes very hard for family members to give all their time to the patient.
The doctor said that high blood pressure was the leading cause of stroke in Pakistan and that one in every three adults suffered from high blood pressure. He said diabetes could also cause astroke.
Walking regularly and exercising could bring the odds of a stroke down, he said.
The doctor advised participants to `change their sedentary lifestyle, stop eating fast foods, smoking and drinking alcohol. Making these small changes can prevent a stroke.To emphasise how important it was to change their lifestyle, the neurologist told the audience about the odds of a person fully recovering after going through a stroke.
`Just 10 per cent of stroke survivors recover almost completely, 25 per cent suffer moderate to severe impairment that requires special care, 10 per cent become fully dependent on others and 15 per cent die shortly after going through a stroke,` the neurologist added.
The Head of Neurology Division at SIH Maimona Siddiqui said 15 million people worldwide suffered a stroke every year and that it claimed a life every six seconds.
Women are more prone to strokes than men, she said. One in six people will have a stroke at some point. For women, though, that figure is one in five.
