World Stroke Day: ‘400 people die of strokes in the country everyday’

Expert says that 30% to 40% people die within the first year of stroke.

KARACHI: A balanced diet requires regular exercise and abstinence from the use of drugs, such as smoking, gutka, betel leaf and sheesha, according to experts.

One must also keep a check on their cholesterol levels, blood pressure and diabetes as 400 people die of stroke everyday in Pakistan. Addressing a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Sunday on the prevention of stroke, the Neurology Awareness and Research Foundation (NARF) president Professor Muhammad Wasay said that the best treatment of stroke is care. Office-bearers of the NARF, Dr Abdul Malik and Dr Naila Shahbaz, also spoke on the occasion.

Dr Malik said that stroke is now the leading cause of sustained disability in the developing world today. About 30 per cent of stroke survivors are left with serious residual deficits and about 30 per cent to 40 per cent die within the first year of stroke.



An estimated 94 per cent of deaths from stroke in South Asia occur in people younger than 70 years in contrast to only six per cent in developed countries, resulting in a greater loss in the disability-adjusted life years. In Pakistan, where 50 per cent of the population is under 19 years of age, the loss of a productive 40- 50 year old due to stroke-related disability reverberates across generations.

“Stroke for the vast majority of sufferers is largely a preventable disease. Hypertension accounts for about 50 percent to 70 percent of stroke causation in Pakistan and is present in about one in three adults aged 45 years,” he said, adding that hypertension cannot be felt, but it must be measured and treated.

The Pakistan Stroke Society (PSS) in collaboration with the NARF has taken an initiative to unite with the world in the fight against stroke. The PSS and NARF will launch a campaign on World Stroke Day on October 29 (today) in different cities across Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Larkana and Multan.

The health experts stressed that consuming fruits and vegetables and keeping sodium intake under control could keep a person fit. It was also stressed that the public should be made aware about the symptoms, causes and treatment of stroke.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2013.