Stroke, which is the second most common cause of death in India, kills one person every 4 minutes in India, said Professor MV Padma Srivastava, a neurologist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). “There are about 1,85,000 strokes in India every year, with approximately one stroke every 40 seconds,” said the Padma Shri recipient at a function held at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), India accounts for 68.6 percent of stroke incidence, 70.9 percent of stroke deaths and 77.7 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost. Srivastava said these figures are alarming for India, especially for those living in poor resource settings.
Furthermore, the burden of stroke is higher among young and middle-aged people. The GBD analysis also showed that nearly 5.2 million (31 percent) of strokes were in children under the age of 20.
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Srivastava said that despite these alarming statistics, many Indian hospitals lack the necessary infrastructure and organization to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients and do not provide adequate stroke care. “Stroke services across the country, especially in public sector hospitals, are deficient in many aspects.”
Stroke can be fatal or cause paralysis and should be treated as soon as possible. The ‘golden window’ for stroke treatment is considered to be 4.5. hours, after which some treatments will not help reverse the damage to neurons.
India faces an infrastructural gap between its urban and rural population when it comes to timely stroke care. He suggested that telemedicine could help rectify the situation.
“One solution for this shortfall in resource rich and poor resource settings in India is to adopt telestroke model in poor resource settings. Implementation of telemedicine/ telestroke facilities is an important step to bridge the economically and geographically handicapped and deprived sections of the society Srivastava said.
A study published in the journal Neurology suggests that depression may be linked to stroke. People who have symptoms of depression may have an increased risk of having a stroke. Depression after a stroke can also impair recovery.
In addition, Covid has also been linked to increased levels of stroke. According to a recent study by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University in the US, people with Covid were found to be 2.5 times more likely to have adverse outcomes and face difficulty recovering after a stroke.