Stroke is a group of diseases that occur in the blood vessels of the brain or cause damage to brain tissue due to sudden rupture or obstruction of blood vessels causing impaired blood circulation.
Clinical manifestations: sudden fainting, unconsciousness, or sudden onset of mouth and eyes, salivation at the corners of the mouth, difficulty in swallowing, hemiplegia, mental retardation, speech impairment, etc. Stroke is also known as “cerebrovascular accident” or “hemiplegia” because of its rapid onset, fierce onset and rapid changes.
Stroke classification: Stroke is usually divided into two categories: ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke.
Common ischemic strokes include transient ischemic attack, cerebral infarction, including cerebral thrombosis, lacunar cerebral infarction, cerebral embolism, etc. Hemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease includes cerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Stroke has the characteristics of “three highs”: high morbidity, high mortality and high disability. According to the Ministry of Health statistics, there are about 2 million new strokes each year; about 1.5 million deaths from stroke each year; and 6-7 million surviving patients. Among them, 3/4 of them have various degrees of sequelae, and more than 40% of them are severely disabled. At present, the annual cost of treating cerebrovascular disease is estimated to be more than 10 billion yuan, and with various indirect economic losses, the annual expenditure due to this disease is close to 20 billion yuan, causing a heavy economic burden to the country and many families.
Precursors of stroke: the patient suddenly has distorted eyes and mouth, salivation at the corners of the mouth, slurred speech, aphasia or incomprehension of words, difficulty in swallowing, weakness or inflexibility of one limb, unstable walking or falling, etc.
Common causes of stroke
1.Vascular wall lesions Atherosclerosis and hypertensive atherosclerosis are the most common, followed by arteritis due to various causes, congenital vascular disease, trauma, surgery, etc. resulting in vascular lesions.
2.Heart disease and hemodynamic changes, such as hypertension, hypotension or rapid blood pressure, cardiac dysfunction, atrial fibrillation, etc.
3, blood composition and blood rheological changes, such as hyperviscosity, abnormal coagulation mechanism, etc.
4, other causes, such as cerebral vascular spasm, trauma, etc.
High risk factors for stroke
1, hypertension, is the most important and independent risk factor for stroke. Increased systolic or diastolic blood pressure increases the incidence of stroke.
2, heart disease, such as coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, valve disease, etc. can increase the incidence of TIA, ischemic stroke.
3, diabetes mellitus, diabetes mellitus is closely related to microvascular and macroangiopathy, hyperlipidemia, etc., and is an important risk factor for stroke.
4, TIA, history of stroke, the more frequent the onset of TIA, the higher the risk of stroke. A history of stroke is four times higher than that of the general population.
5, smoking and alcohol abuse, the risk of stroke is related to the amount and duration of smoking. Alcoholics have a 4-5 times higher incidence of stroke than the general population, and are more likely to lead to brain hemorrhage.
6, hyperlipidemia and hyperhomocysteinemia.
7, Other such as high salt and high fat diet, obesity, drug abuse and reduced physical activity are associated with stroke.
In general there is an inseparable relationship with hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes and smoking. Understanding the risk factors for stroke and providing certain interventions and treatments can prevent and reduce the occurrence of stroke and reduce the rate of disability and mortality. Among the risk factors leading to stroke, hypertension and smoking are important risk factors that can be prevented. If blood pressure is controlled to about 130/80 mmHg through antihypertensive drugs and low salt diet, the risk rate of stroke can be reduced by 30-50%. Smoking is an independent risk factor for stroke. Smoking can increase plasma fibrinogen and blood viscosity and damage blood vessel walls; nicotine stimulates sympathetic nerves to constrict blood vessels and increase blood pressure.
In addition, the appearance of some triggering factors on top of this can contribute to the sudden onset of stroke. Such as: poor mood, poor diet, overexertion, excessive force, excessive exercise, sudden sitting up or getting up and other position changes, pregnancy, dry stools, improper medication, etc.