Patients with 'bleeding' strokes less likely to get prevention...( WASHINGTON May 10 Patients with a he...)

Patients with 'bleeding' strokes less likely to get prevention treatment

WASHINGTON, May 10 Patients with a hemorrhagic ("bleeding") stroke are significantly less likely to receive medications and counseling to prevent recurrent strokes compared to patients with an ischemic (clot-caused) stroke, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 8th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.

These findings are the result of a three-year study conducted by members of the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and investigators. The project involved 662 hospitals with entries for 149,089 ischemic strokes or transient ischemic attacks (a "mini-stroke"), 17,195 intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH) and 5,503 subarachnoid hemorrhages (SAH).

An intracerebral hemorrhage occurs when a defective artery in the brain bursts, flooding the surrounding tissue with blood. A subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs when a blood vessel on the brain's surface ruptures and bleeds into the space between the brain and the skull (but not into the brain itself). Bleeding strokes have a much higher fatality rate than strokes caused by clots.

Get With The GuidelinesStroke is an American Heart Association quality improvement program in which hospitals establish teams to ensure that stroke patients are treated and discharged appropriately according to guideline-based performance measures.

The researchers looked for the proportion of patients who received cholesterol-reducing medications, diabetes medications and weight-reduction management and smoking cessation therapy at discharge. High cholesterol, diabetes, overweight/obesity and cigarette smoking are risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Smoking, in particular, is a known risk factor for both bleeding strokes and ischemic strokes.

They found that 77 percent of ischemic stroke patients received cholesterol-lowering medications at discharge, compared with 67 percent of ICH patients and 62 percent
'"/>

Contact: Karen Astle
karen.astle@heart.org
214-706-1392
American Heart Association
10-May-2007

Page: 1 2 3
Related medicine news :

1. Patients with soft tissue sarcomas should be treated at high volume centers
2. Patients should be alert for obesity surgery complication
3. Patients with type 1 diabetes dont wake in response to hypoglycemia
4. Cancer Patients Nationwide Can More Easily Navigate Health Care System
5. Patients with PTSD experience less pain sensitivity -- may be related to altered processing
6. Patients requests for antidepressants can influence physician evaluation of depression
7. Patients unaware of risks and purpose of research even after informed consent
8. Patients can report statins adverse effects on new web site
9. National study: Patients poorly prepared for end-of-life decisions
10. Patients receiving treatment with radioisotopes may trigger security alarms
11. Patients groups should declare pharmaceutical company funding

Post Your Comments: