Tag Archives: stroke

Van offers faster stroke diagnosis, treatment

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Photo: Daria Kadovik/Cronkite NewsThe Barrow Emergency Stroke Treatment Unit, which cost about $1 million, is dispatched when Phoenix Fire has a possible stroke victim.

PHOENIX – Stroke victims who have only minutes to get treatment before their brains are permanently damaged are getting help faster through the eyes of cameras on a mobile stroke van, doctors at Barrow Neurological Institute said.

“The fact is, we know time is brain,” said Gabriel Gabriel, a registered nurse who oversees the unit. Guidelines say treatment within 60 minutes of a stroke are the best chance of recovery, and on-the-scene treatment in the mobile stroke unit leads to shorter hospital stays of one or two days, Gabriel said. Continue reading →

Daria Kadovik, a Cronkite News photographer, shoots visuals and writes stories about topics such as a patient who went through an experimental procedure for flesh-eating bacteria and doctors who were matched with residency programs.

Researchers identify new genetic stroke risk factors

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Image: Geoff Hutchison via Flickr

One of the largest analyses of stroke factors ever conducted is providing scientists with new clues to identify stroke mechanisms and potential treatments. Researchers have identified 22 new genetic risk factors, tripling the number of gene regions known to affect stroke risk.

By mining an enormous trove of data, a team of international researchers obtained critical new insights into the specific genes, molecular pathways, and cell and tissue types through which the new genetic risk factors cause a stroke. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.

Men without caregivers at greater risk for nursing home placement following stroke

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National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health via Flickr

Male stroke survivors over age 65 may be three times as likely to end up in a nursing home within five years if they lack a caregiver compared with those who have someone to assist them, according to a new study. A similar risk was not seen in female stroke survivors.

The findings suggest that clinicians should remain aware of the critical role of caregivers in helping older adults remain independent. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.

Potassium intake linked to stroke risk in older women

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Postmenopausal women who eat foods higher in potassium are less likely to have strokes and die than women who eat less potassium-rich foods according to new research in Stroke, the journal of the American Heart Association.

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of mortality in the United States, and as this infographic shows, women account for 60 percent of all stroke cases in the U.S. Women also have higher lifetime risk of stroke than men.

In this observational study, researchers tracked 90,137 postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 79, for an average 11 years. They looked at potassium consumption, incidence and type of stroke and mortality during that period. The average dietary potassium intake from food —not supplements — was 2,611 mg/day. All participants were free of stroke history at baseline. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.

Does this state make my butt look big?

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A study published this month in the journal Obesity reports that the largest percentage of obese people in the United States live in the Great Plains, not in the South, as surveys have long indicated.

Researchers found 41 percent obesity in a census region that includes Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, while the East Central South region—Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky – weighed in with 31 percent obesity. Mississippi and Alabama have long ranked first and second as the most obese states in the nation, according to data compiled by the CDC.

The study suggests the dubious honor of being the fattest region in the U.S. should go to the nation’s breadbasket, not to the buckle of its BBQ belt.

“That’s a pretty big difference,” said senior author George Howard, Dr.P.H., chair of biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Don’t get me wrong, 31 percent obesity is not good, but it’s not the worst.”

The difference is important, too, because these kinds of rankings often help determine which states get federal public health dollars for research and anti-obesity campaigns.

How could this happen? Blame a problem that bedevils all kinds of research: self-reported data. Continue reading →

Brenda Goodman (@ReporterGoodman) has been a reporter for 15 years, covering health, science, and medicine for television, magazines, newspapers and the Web. She was senior news writer for WebMD before joining CNN Health. Her stories have appeared in Scientific American, The New York Times, Psychology Today, Parade, Self, Health, and The Boston Globe, among others.