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Source: NHS News Feed
Condition: Ischemic Stroke

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Total 36 results found since Jan 2013.

Does coffee make you live longer?
Conclusion This study, conducted on a large number of people across Europe, was backed up by similar findings in the US. It appears to show some association between people who drink higher amounts of coffee and a reduced risk of death. But the "potentially beneficial clinical implications" need to be considered carefully for a number of reasons: Although the analyses were adjusted for some confounding variables, there may be a number of other factors that differ between the groups that account for the differences in death, such as socioeconomic status, family history, other medical conditions, and use of medic...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news

Overweight teen boys have increased risk of stroke in later life
Conclusion The findings of this large longitudinal cohort study seem to demonstrate a link between being overweight aged 20 and an increased risk of stroke. This risk was regardless of whether the boy had been overweight aged 8 or not. There seemed to be no increased risk for boys who were overweight aged 8 but were a normal weight by the age of 20. The study was conducted before the obesity epidemic, and might be even more relevant today. But there are a number of considerations to take into account before we draw any conclusions: Participants were followed up until they were 52-68, so all the strokes occurred at a r...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 29, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Pregnancy/child Source Type: news

Being overweight, not just obese, still carries serious health risks
Conclusion This impressively large global study demonstrates that the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide among both children and adults. It supports what has long been thought, that increased body mass index (BMI) contributes to a range of illnesses and is ultimately responsible for a large number of deaths, particularly from cardiovascular disease. One potential limitation is the use of self-reported BMI or health outcome data in some of the studies, although the majority used a specific independent measurement so this is unlikely to have biased results too much. It is also always difficult from observational d...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 13, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Source Type: news

'Fat but fit' still at higher risk of heart disease
Conclusion The question of whether someone can be "fat but fit" has been much debated. If you're obese but exercise, eat well and don't have metabolic risk factors, the theory goes, you could be just as healthy as someone of recommended weight. This study suggests that may not be true. It is definitely worth adopting a healthy lifestyle, whatever your weight. The study found that, the more metabolic risk factors people had, the more likely they were to develop heart disease, cardiovascular disease and so on. Metabolic risk factors do make a difference. But in this large study, on average, people who were obese ...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 17, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

Reported link between diet drinks and dementia and stroke is weak
Conclusion The researchers used data from a large ongoing cohort study to look for links between consumption of sugary and artificially sweetened drinks and risk of stroke or dementia. This cohort study benefits from the large overall sample size, long period of data collection, careful and valid diagnostic assessments, and adjustments for a number of confounders. However, care must be taken when interpreting these results – particularly if latching on to the maximal tripled risk figures reported in the media. There are several points to consider: Small numbers The new number of strokes and dementia in this study was sma...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 21, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Heart/lungs Neurology Source Type: news

Moderate drinking may reduce heart disease risk
Conclusion This study paints a more complicated picture than the "Pint a day keeps the doctor away" story proffered by The Sun. It seems to confirm the findings of other studies, which have shown that non-drinkers tend to have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases than people who drink moderately. It suggests that some cardiovascular diseases (mainly those directly affecting the heart) seem to have a stronger link to a possible protective effect from alcohol than other vascular diseases, such as mini-strokes and bleeding in the brain. However, this can't be concluded with certainty due to the study design. We ...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 23, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Food/diet Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

'Not enough over-50s' taking aspirin to prevent heart disease
Conclusion This study doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know. Aspirin has been used for many years to prevent heart attacks and strokes in people with cardiovascular disease. Aspirin's wider use is controversial, because of the potential side effects. What this study does add is an estimate of what might happen if all people in the US who were advised to take aspirin under US guidelines, actually did so. (The researchers say that 40% of men and 10% of women advised to take aspirin don't take it). The study assumes that people would get the same benefits as those seen in clinical trials of aspirin. This is u...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 1, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Older people Source Type: news

'Nine out of 10 strokes preventable,' claims study
Conclusion This valuable research aims to clarify which preventable risk factors are associated with stroke risk – knowledge that could have an effect on addressing this important global health problem. The study's strengths are that it is based on a large sample size of nearly 27,000 people from 32 countries and of different socioeconomic backgrounds. The researchers made careful attempts beforehand to calculate how many participants they would need to include to be able to reliably detect differences in risk factors. There was little missing data across the total sample – for the various different risk factors as...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 18, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Medication Source Type: news

Study: 'mini strokes should be treated immediately with aspirin'
Conclusion The study supports current recommended practice that people with a TIA or ischaemic stroke caused by a blood clot are treated with aspirin as soon as possible. NHS experts are considering whether to recommend that you take aspirin yourself while waiting for medical help. The reason this isn't recommended at present is that some people will have had a haemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke, and aspirin can make the bleeding worse. For people who've had a full stroke, an urgent brain scan is usually performed to exclude bleeding as a cause and check it's safe to proceed with anti-clotting treatment. The risk of trans...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Medication Source Type: news

Fruit may be good for you, but don’t ditch the statins
Conclusion The study adds to evidence that fresh fruit is likely to be good for our cardiovascular health, although we can't be sure from this study that it definitely prevents deaths, heart attacks or strokes. Observational studies cannot prove that one factor causes another, even when they are as big as this study, because other unmeasured factors could be responsible for the results. In this case, a major potential confounder that the researchers failed to take into account was whether the participants were taking any medication – they only excluded people taking blood pressure tablets. The link with statins, made by ...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 7, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Heart/lungs Source Type: news

GP receptionists 'could help prevent stroke deaths'
Conclusion This valuable and well-designed study assessed a cross-section of general practices from one UK region, looking at how well receptionists are able to recognise the signs of stroke and give appropriate advice – either immediately passing patients on to the GP or telling them to contact emergency services. The study has many strengths. These include the large sample of GP surgeries and calls assessed, and that receptionists weren't aware of the nature of the study and the calls were unannounced. At the end of each individual call receptionists were told the call was part of the study and no further action was n...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 29, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Source Type: news

Air pollution linked to silent strokes
Conclusion This cross-sectional study has suggested a link between exposure to small particles in the air (one form of pollution) and the presence of "silent stroke" in older adults – small areas of damage to the brain tissue that are not severe enough to cause obvious symptoms. There are a number of limitations to be aware of when assessing the results of this study: While there was an association between particulate matter in the air and total brain volume, this was no longer statistically significant after taking into account whether people have conditions such as high blood pressure, which can also affec...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 24, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Source Type: news

People with gout have lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Conclusion This population-based study has found that people with gout had a 24% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. It was a well-designed study, in that there were large numbers of people in each group and multiple potential confounding factors were taken into account. The validation of the study was also valuable in showing the expected lack of a link between osteoarthritis and Alzheimer’s disease. However, there are some limitations with this type of study, with a major one being that it cannot prove cause and effect. While some potential confounding factors were accounted for in the statistical analysi...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 5, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Older people Source Type: news

Flu and freezing weather may be driving up winter death rates
Conclusion There are always more deaths in winter than other seasons, particularly among elderly people. But why these fairly dramatic spikes in the death rate have occurred is still not understood. It should be noted these figures are provisional, as there can be a delay in the ONS receiving the data. Although the media has focused on the likely cause being flu, the numbers provided are for all respiratory conditions. Cold weather can exacerbate many of these conditions, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. For most fit and healthy people, flu is not a serious threat, but the elderly and those with...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Medical practice QA articles Source Type: news

Memory gaps in graduates a 'stroke warning sign'
Conclusion This study showed that highly educated people who notice memory complaints in themselves may be more likely to develop stroke than those who don’t, over an average of 12 years. The study had a number of strengths, such as its population-based prospective design and availability of data on more than 9,000 participants at baseline with a long follow-up. However, there were also a number of limitations that weaken the strength of the conclusions. It was not clear whether the memory complaints were assessed just once at the start of the study or an ongoing basis. Some people may report memory complaints that are o...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 12, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Mental health Older people Source Type: news