SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –
During the year 2022, the Canary Islands registered a total of 2,382 hospital admissions due to stroke, distributed evenly between both sexes and with an average age of patients of 71 years.
These data were released this Friday by the Department of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands on the occasion of ‘World Stroke Day’, which emphasized the importance of maintaining healthy lifestyle habits to prevent this pathology as well as acting immediately. when symptoms are suspected.
Stroke is a cerebrovascular disease that affects the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain, causing a sudden disorder of cerebral circulation that alters the function of a certain region of the brain, the Ministry details in a note.
85 percent of strokes occur due to vascular obstruction and the rest due to hemorrhage.
This disease is the second cause of death in Spain and the first in women.
In addition, it is the first cause of acquired disability in adults and the second cause of dementia.
According to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), every year around 130,000 people suffer a stroke in Spain, of which 50% will have subsequent consequences that cause disability with a mortality of 30%.
In the last 20 years, mortality and disability due to stroke has decreased, thanks to improvements in early detection and control of risk factors.
Stroke care is part of the ‘Program for the prevention and control of atherosclerotic disease in the Canary Islands’.
The brain damage caused by a stroke is closely related to the length of time that the alteration in the cerebral vascularization and the area that has been affected is maintained.
Therefore, knowing how to identify symptoms of the disease early to activate the emergency system can help significantly improve the prognosis of this disease.
The ‘Stroke Code’ is a program fully established in the Canary Islands and is the action procedure that begins in the place where the first alert to the health system is generated, based on the early recognition of the symptoms of a stroke with the aim of transferring as soon as possible to each patient to the appropriate hospital center so that they can benefit from reperfusion therapy and specialized care in a stroke unit.
By activating the ‘Stroke Code’ by calling the Canary Islands Emergency Service through the emergency telephone number 1-1-2, the in-hospital process of diagnosis and care is launched while the stroke patient is transferred to the Emergency Service.
Thus, upon the arrival of a patient to the hospital Emergency Department, the unit’s team of professionals will be waiting for the patient and, in many cases, they will even be transferred to the treatment room itself.
REDUCE MORTALITY
The objective is not only to reduce mortality due to stroke, but also complications and sequelae (morbidity), since these are very important in the subsequent quality of life, since stroke is the second cause of long-term disability or disability in the adult, stand out from the Ministry.
Care for patients with stroke also includes the provision of rehabilitation, a complex, multidisciplinary process, limited in time and whose fundamental purpose is to treat or compensate for deficits and disability (motor, sensory or neuropsychological) to achieve the maximum possible functional capacity. in each case, facilitating independence and reintegration into the patient’s usual environment in all its aspects (family, work and social).
The Ministry of Health remembers that preventing risk factors is the key to avoiding new cases, their morbidity or mortality.
Thus, one of the pillars of stroke care is the control and treatment of diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia, as well as maintaining a balanced diet and physical activity, avoiding the consumption of toxic substances such as tobacco, alcohol, coffee and other drugs. of abuse.
