Introduction
Stroke has been rated third in the category of the leading killer diseases in America after cardiovascular disease and cancer. Stroke occurrence results into rupturing or bursting of the blood vessels in the brain. This may lead to permanent brain damage and worse still, death.
Stroke can be categorized into two; Ischematic stroke and Hemorrhagic stroke. In Ischematic type of stroke is characterized by blockage of blood supply to a brain section. This prevents oxygen and nutrients from reaching the brain cells. The condition is mainly caused by fatty deposits within the walls of the arteries causing cerebral thrombosis. The latter are clots which may be deposited in brain' blood vessels .They can lodge in the brain's artery and hence blockage.
Hemorrhagic stroke is the other form of stroke; it is characterized by rupturing of the blood vessel in the brain bleeding into the brain tissue in the neighborhood. This is termed as intracerebral hemorrhage where the blood accumulates and pressurizes the surrounding tissue. High blood pressure often causes intracerebral hemorrhage.
Stroke may be easily identified by the presence of the following symptoms. Sudden paralysis of a leg, or one side of the face, problems related to speech such as speaking or understanding. Vision is impaired, balance is affected together with loss of coordination. There is severe and sudden headache, numbness and dizziness.
Age;
The risk of stroke is directly related to age, after fifty fife years of age the risk doubles after every ten years. However, the presence of High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity common across all ages accelerates the risk of stroke related cases. Owing to the fact that women outlive men in age, the absolute figure of the suffering from stroke each year is greater. This is common in the elderly population.
Gender;
Prior to reaching 55 years of age men are more prone to stroke attack unlike women. After turning into this age, the risk for both genders equalizes. However, women are more likely to succumb to stroke contrary to men. Owing to the higher smoking habits by men as compared to women, they are at a higher risk of stroke. For women using oral contraceptives and at the same time smoking the risk is equally higher. The same case applies for women using hormone therapy for menopause. Presence of low high density lipoprotein (HDL) poses a higher risk of ischemic stroke to men unlike in women.
Race;
There are higher incidences of stroke and resultant death risks to African Americans that Caucasians. Asian Americans records prevalent cases of hemorrhagic stroke unlike other ethnic groups. The risk of contracting stroke is higher to a family member whose parents or sibling have had stroke. According to Northern Manhattan Stroke studies report, incidences of stroke among blacks in the Cincinnati region are more than double as compared to whites living in the Rochester. Also, there is increased stroke related mortality among blacks equivalent to more than twice recorded whites' deaths from stroke.
Mortality;
According to the report from published by the American Heart Association Statistics committee on stroke and Heart Diseases in 2007, 79.4 million Americans over the age of 20 had developed cardiovascular diseases. Globally, an estimate of about 17 million people die each year from stroke and heart related problems. Low and middle income countries top the list of the mortality rating category. These countries account for about 80% of the deaths with a predicted tripling of ischematic heart disease and stroke mortality in Latin America, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa in the next two decades.
Morbidity
Aging is a complicated process which can be viewed as time-dependent series of dynamic, cumulative, intrinsic and deleterious functional and structural changes in the body. Aging diseases related to stroke includes cancer, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. A great magnitude of Morbidity and mortality rates of the elderly results from a series of acute ischemic symptoms. They lead to stroke or myocardial infarction. As a result cellular death of myocytes or neurons occurs.
Aging disorders attributable to stroke
Different sections of the brains control variable function. When particular brain cells' functioning is impaired by stroke, the parts of the body under the control of such brain cells fails to function accordingly. If the left hemisphere is affected speech and language functions are affected leading to right-sided paralysis a condition normally referred as aphasia .The affected may understand hearings but may not be able to organize the right words to respond. This condition is common to the elderly generation who may use gestures for communication instead. The aging disorders can be categorized into many forms, to begin with is the Neurological. Potential sources of embolism from the heart increases stroke risk similar to atrial fibrillation. Most recently research has proved that plasma lipids and lipoproteins fuel the risk of ischemic stroke. Every year, about 730,000 Americans has been reported of developing new or recurrent stroke with two thirds occurring to generations above 65 years of age. Owing to the fact that many who suffer from stroke have residual deficits this results into residual altered mobility.
The other aging problem is the musculoskeletal. It is mainly identified by occurrence of joints disease, musculoskeletal deformities and osteoporosis which affects mobility. It has been noted that podiatric problems such as bunions and calluses causes pain and walking inability and thus morbidity.
Additional to the above is the cardiovascular problems. The coronary artery disease is common in this problem. Included in the list is myocardial infarction which progresses to congestive heart failure and also peripheral vascular disease which together alters strength, endurance and in effect lowered activity levels results. This reduction in activity levels may lead to muscle astrophy, loss of flexibility and fatigue. Down the list of impairments is the lowered sensory capacity. The affected individual develops impaired vision to hazardous obstacles leading to higher risks of accidents and thus immobilization. Other stroke related disorders includes behavioral changes. The person may become suddenly loud and boisterous. A formerly calm character may be replaced by ease of upset and inappropriate swearing. The affected loses control of the ability to control emotions, depression and may cry uncontrollably often at inappropriate times. Studies have shown that age, accumulated tobacco smoking and obesity common in the old generation .They are believed to accelerate occurrence of ischemic type of stroke. Included in the list is high blood pressure.
Solution to Stroke related cases.
A major solution to the problems associated to aging problems attributable to stroke is through the use of preventable medicine. Through this approach, progression of age-related diseases is controlled by diet, exercise and medication. It can be noted that aging disorders may be through degeneration in one or more organ systems in this case the brain. This causes disability and sometimes death which is common to stroke related cases. The most viable solution to such degenerative organ failure is through organ transplant. For cases such as myocardial infarction which may cause heart failure or stroke, organ transplant has proved significant effectiveness. However, when few organ donors exist cell therapy could be a far more effective treatment for the whole organ dysfunction such as brain in stroke related cases. This method is capable of reconstituting deficient tissues within the organ other than total replacement. By applying stem cell biology technique, therapeutic clinical method using cell therapies can treat myocardial infarction and stroke. Further, appropriate medication can be used to prevent a first stroke too. For instance antihypertensive medication can significantly reduces risk of stroke to hypertensive patients by about 30 %.For the diabetics, treatment with angiotensin-converting -enzyme (ACE) inhibitors can reduce the risk of stroke by about 20%.
Conclusion
Stroke is one of the major noncommunicable diseases attracting public health interest. In most industrialized countries, it is rated the third leading killer after Coronary disease and cancer. Further research aimed at controlling the disease therefore is necessary to contain its widespread global presence.
