Source: sentinelassam.com
GUWAHATI: Over 5,000 people are detected with heart disease while nearly 50 die of stroke every day in Assam.
Sources told The Sentinel that compilation and analysis of data from medical records available with various government and private hospitals during the last 20 years has revealed that two to five persons become disabled for life because of stroke every hour in the State. Hypertension or high blood pressure, which is one the prime causes for heart disease and stroke, affects over 15,000 people daily in Assam.
“Earlier people above 50 used to suffer from strokes, but now people even in their early 40s suffer from strokes because of sedentary lifestyle,” a senior doctor at Gauhati Medical College & Hospital said.
The doctor warned that the situation would turn worse if a massive awareness drive was not carried out by the government as well as private sectors to educate people about the causes, early symptoms and prevention of such fatal diseases.
According to doctors at government as well as private hospitals, hypertension has greatly increased in recent years. Both modifiable and non-modifiable factors are responsible for causing strokes. Modifiable factors include conditions like hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes, dyslipidemia (high cholesterol level) and other lifestyle related factors like smoking, poor diet and alcohol.
“Modifiable factors like health conditions and lifestyle can be modified to control stroke. Non-modifiable factors like age and gender cannot be modified,” Dr A. Ali, a senior doctor at a leading private said.
“Among modifiable factors hypertension is the leading cause of stroke. It is essential to take proper steps to control it. A healthy lifestyle, daily exercise even in the form of a walk for 30 minutes and consuming low-fat nutritious diet are the keys to control high blood pressure,” Dr Ali said.
Dr Ali said the warning signs of stroke are sudden numbness or weakness in your face, arm or leg, especially on one side, confusion or trouble understanding other people, trouble speaking, trouble seeing with one or both eyes, trouble walking or staying balanced or coordinated, dizziness and severe headache that comes on for no known reason.
“If people can be educated on the causes and symptoms of such diseases, many lives could be saved. For example, if one gets stroke symptoms he or she could immediately swallow an aspirin tablet which helps in preventing blood clotting. Immediate identification of symptoms of stroke helps patients to reach hospitals at the earliest and ensures chances of survival or recovery to more than 80 per cent,” Dr Ali said.