6 out of 10 stroke victims women

New Health Ministry study reveals, women more at risk due to gender specific factors:

by Carol Aloysius

A new study –the first of its kind conducted by the Health Ministry – has revealed that 64% of low income groups in Sri Lanka, have never heard about ‘stroke’ and referred to it as ‘another disease entity’ or an ‘unknown disease.’

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The preliminary results of interviews carried out by health personnel in Colombo city targeting 100 respondents, (48 males and 52 females) randomly selected from mostly low income communities, were presented by the Publicity Officer , Health Education Bureau, Janaka Suneth Bandara, at a recent media discussion, to commemorate World Stroke Day.

Bandara said that nearly 85 % of those interviewed referred to stroke as a form of paralysis (Hemparesis) while 14% believed it affected only males while only 2% believed only women were affected.

He also noted that 44% identified numbness in face as a symptom while 8% said it was a paralysis of a limb. On their response to available treatment and care facilities for stroke victims, he said 8% had said treatment was ‘useless after symptoms appeared’ while 74% said immediate western medical care was beneficial, initially.

Post care

However, as many as 84% stated that indigenous treatment was a better option and would guarantee a permanent cure.”

Commenting on the pilot study, carried out by Bandara and a former colleague at the Health Education Bureau and Dr. Uthpala Amarasinghe, Post Doctoral Fellow (currently attached to the Global Health Communication Center, US), Director General Health Services Dr. P.G. Maheepala said, the objective was to assess the awareness levels on specific diseases, especially non- communicable diseases.

“Stroke, cardiac diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, have surged among Sri Lanka’s rapidly ageing population in the recent years. This is due to ignorance of their causes and symptoms and most importantly, preventive action.

We need to create great awareness in our efforts to educate the public, what is available for the prevention of diseases so that people can be assured of early detection as well as treatment,” he said.

Awareness raising activities launched on this year’s World Stroke Day include, awarding of prizes for winners of National Schools, art contest on stroke, launch of the stroke awareness poster design campaign in Sinhala and Tamil and a languages and public education campaign based on the theme ‘FAST,’ for stroke recognition.

At Friday’s media briefing, an online Sri Lanka Clinical Stroke Registry offering a comprehensive data base representing all hospitals with stroke units was launched in a bid to publicize details of existing units for the treatment of stroke victims.

Women at risk

Speaking on the occasion, President, National Stroke Association, Dr. Udaya Ranawaka said, since women are more at risk of suffering a stroke, this year’s global theme reflected this. The 2015 theme is: “I am a woman. Stroke affects me.”

Out of ten stroke victims, six are likely to be women as they live longer and have more risk factors for stroke than males due to gender specific factors.

“We need to close the gender gap relating to stroke education with awareness raising. They (women) also outnumber the caregivers of stroke victims,” he said.

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The new study revealed that the percentage of care givers of stroke patients was 76%, with 50% of them having been a caregiver all their lives or temporarily.

The pilot study also found that sources of information on stroke among the targeted population were mostly neighbours and friends (56%), while 40% had learned about stroke from the television and radio while only 33% learnt of it from the newspapers.

It further revealed that the majority of care givers of stroke victims (76%) were women – a fact little known by women themselves.

Low awareness

Compared with the relatively low level of awareness on basic facts relating to stroke, Bandara noted that knowledge on preventing the disease was fairly satisfactory due to more awareness raising in the recent years.

He said 84% had correctly stated that exercise and a healthy life style could prevent the disease while 70% had said avoiding smoking and alcohol could also prevent stroke, now the second leading number for hospital admissions in Sri Lanka.

He added that most of the respondents while rating existing facilities as ‘adequate’ were of the opinion they could be improved in future.

Dr Udaya Ranawaka warned, “Stroke is a brain attack. It’s an emergency. To recognize the symptoms, global stroke associations have come up with the ‘FAST guideline’ which is easy to follow.

Sudden severe headache for no reason, difficulty in swallowing, walking, loss of balance, sudden change in vision, or weakness/ numbness of face arm or leg are warning signals.

Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIA) are mini strokes in which symptoms of strokes occur only for a few minutes.

Seek medical help immediately to minimize disability. Stroke is preventable and curable with early detection and treatment at our stroke units,” he emphasized.

He said, the Health Ministry had allocated Rs. 300 million to set up six new stroke units at leading state hospitals this year on the advice of the National Stroke Association, with a state-of-the-art National Stroke Hospital to be set up at Mulleriyawa on the cards.

“Preventing stroke is better than treating it. It will also help reduce the cost of bearing the burden of this disease, which is a strain on our national health budget,” he said.

The economic impact of the stroke has not been studied in SL. Studies from western countries show when strokes are treated early, for every 1,000 patients, the rehabilitation costs and nursing home costs can be reduced by $1.4 million and $ 4.8 million respectively.

The National Stroke Association has also taken steps to initiate the early clot buster treatment for Stroke (should be done within 3-4.5 hours after onset of stroke) through the Ministry of Health in all major hospitals in the country. Currently this treatment is available in the Teaching hospitals of Colombo, Karapitiya, Jaffna, Sri Jayewardenepura, Kurunegala and Batticaloa, Consultant Nurologist Sri Jayawardanapura hospital Dr. Harsha Gunasekere told the Sunday Observer.