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Total 273 results found since Jan 2013.

Is exercise to blame for Andrew Marr's stroke?
Much of the media is reporting on an interview given by broadcaster and journalist Andrew Marr, who is recovering from a stroke he had in January 2013. In the interview, Marr explained that he had two 'mini-strokes' – or transient ischaemic attacks – the year before, but he "hadn't noticed". Marr suggested that his stroke was triggered by vigorous exercise on a rowing machine, saying, "I'm frankly lucky to be alive". But can exercise actually be bad for your health? It all depends on the type of exercise you are doing and your individual circumstances. It is worth noting that almost all of ...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 15, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology QA articles Source Type: news

Stroke risk 'higher at start of warfarin treatment'
Conclusion This study has found that warfarin was associated with an increased risk of ischaemic stroke during the first 30 days of treatment. After 30 days of treatment, warfarin was associated with a decreased risk of stroke. However, this study has a number of limitations that should be considered: All information was from patient records, which means that it wasn't subject to recall bias, but the information may not be complete – we do not know if, for example, people took the medication they were prescribed. There may be other factors (confounders) that explain the association seen. In particular, the ba...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 19, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication 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

Longer sleep linked to stroke
Conclusion This cohort study found that, overall, people who sleep for more than eight hours have a 46% increased risk of stroke. When analysed separately, there was no statistically significant association for men, but a much higher increased risk for women, of 80%. A major strength of the study is the number of potential confounding factors that the researchers tried to account for, including many cardiovascular risk factors. However, it did not account for other illnesses such as sleep apnoea or cancer, which may have had an effect on the amount of sleep and risk of stroke. In addition, the study is reliant on the i...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Older people Source Type: news

Study finds link between air pollution and stroke risk
Conclusion This study showed a clear link between rises in gas and particle pollution and the chances of being admitted to hospital or dying because of a stroke. The researchers showed the link was strongest on the day of exposure to raised pollution levels. But this study has some limitations. While systematic reviews are a good way to summarise all the research that has been published on a topic, they are only as good as the individual studies they include. About two-thirds of the studies used a time series design, which the researchers say is less effective in taking account of trends such as the season of year, rathe...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 25, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology 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

Stem cell stroke treatment trial results 'show promise'
This study looked at the safety and tolerability of a stem cell therapy called ReN001 in the treatment of ischaemic stroke, where the blood supply to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. The findings, which were reported in a press release, suggest that the nine people included in the study experienced no adverse effects and showed a modest improvement in stroke-related symptoms. However, the full findings from the PISCES trial are yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Until this happens, it is worth exercising a little healthy scepticism about the claims being made. This research is still at a very early s...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 28, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Medical practice QA articles Source Type: news

Flu jab "may cut" stroke risk by a quarter
ConclusionThis research finds that, overall, having the flu vaccine reduced the risk of a person experiencing a stroke by about 25%. The reduction in risk seemed to be greatest within the first three months of vaccination, but remained for up to 12 months.  However, the effect lasted only if the vaccine was given early in the flu season (September to mid-November); giving the vaccine late in the flu season (mid-November to February) was not associated with significantly reduced risk.The research benefits from using data coded within the General Practice Research Database for England and Wales for almost 50,000 people with...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 21, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Neurology Older people 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

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

Female stroke survivors’ quality of life investigated
Conclusion The study suggests that women have a lower quality of life than men three and 12 months after they have been discharged from hospital after experiencing a stroke or mini-stroke. While the results were statistically significant, the relative differences appeared small. For example at three months (where the largest difference was found) the average difference in quality of life score between men and women was 0.036 points. This is on a quality of life scale that ranges from 0 (death) to 1 (perfect health). The quality of life difference at 12 months was 0.022 points. Whether these small differences are clinicall...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 10, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Female stroke survivors' quality of life investigated
Conclusion The study suggests that women have a lower quality of life than men three and 12 months after they have been discharged from hospital after experiencing a stroke or mini-stroke. While the results were statistically significant, the relative differences appeared small. For example at three months (where the largest difference was found) the average difference in quality of life score between men and women was 0.036 points. This is on a quality of life scale that ranges from 0 (death) to 1 (perfect health). The quality of life difference at 12 months was 0.022 points. Whether these small differences are clinicall...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 10, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

'Safe' stem cell therapy may help stroke recovery
Conclusion This study provides evidence that a new technique using a patient's own stem cells to aid the recovery from severe ischaemic stoke is feasible and appears to be safe. It was not designed to test whether the technique was better than doing nothing or better than other types of care or treatment. The authors are perfectly clear that this "proof-of-concept study was not designed with a control group or powered to be able to detect efficacy". This means we cannot be sure that the improvements seen in the five patients were caused by the stem cell treatment. They could have occurred anyway as part of the na...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 11, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Genetics/stem cells Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Working long hours 'increases stroke risk'
Conclusion This systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to assess the association between long working hours and the risk of developing heart disease and stroke.  Overall, the study found longer working hours above 55 hours a week was linked to a third increased risk of stroke. The link with heart disease was weaker.  It also found the influence of long hours on heart disease risk was higher for those of lower socioeconomic groups than it was for those of intermediate or high socioeconomic groups. This study has several strengths. This includes the large overall sample size and the inclusion of both published a...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 21, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Source Type: news

Eating one egg a day may lower risk of stroke
Conclusion This research broadly supports previous studies in this area, which suggest eating eggs does not increase the chances of getting heart disease or stroke. It raises the possibility that eggs may decrease the risk of having a stroke, but there are limitations to the study, meaning this result may not be reliable. It's interesting that researchers did not find a "dose response" between stroke risk and the number of eggs eaten. Usually, if something is having an effect on the chances of getting a condition, you can see a linear pattern – having more of that food or treatment increases or decreases chanc...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Neurology Heart/lungs Source Type: news