Stroke

A smartwatch programme may support home stroke rehab by helping survivors take more daily steps and spend less time inactive, a pilot study found. Researchers developed the 12-week BIG STEPS programme to help people stay active after returning home following hospital treatment for stroke. The programme combines behavioural coaching with structured walking goals [...]

High blood levels of xylitol were associated with a greater risk of stroke, heart attack and death in the largest study of its kind. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol found naturally in some foods in very low amounts. It is also added, often in amounts 1,000 times higher, to sweeten foods, drinks and oral care [...]

A stroke survivor says an AI receptionist at her GP surgery could not understand her, leading her to register elsewhere. The ASA surgery at Armthorpe, near Doncaster, was one of many facilities using a nationwide AI system called EMMA to prevent long waits on the phone. Judith Butterfield, 71, said she tried five times to [...]

Even low levels of exercise were linked to a lower stroke risk among adults with atrial fibrillation (AF), a long-term Norwegian study suggests. AF is a heart rhythm disorder that causes a rapid, irregular heartbeat and increases the risk of stroke. The study included more than 87,340 adults aged 30 to 99 in Norway, including [...]

Patients with severe strokes had better one-year outcomes after thrombectomy than with medical management alone, follow-up data suggest. The analysis involved patients with ischaemic stroke and large-core infarcts, meaning a significant amount of brain tissue had already been damaged. Sameer A. Ansari, professor and chief of interventional neuroradiology in the Department of Radiology and a [...]

Severe mental illness is linked to higher stroke risk in early and middle adulthood and increased dementia risk across adulthood, a study suggests. An analysis of health records from nearly 700,000 people found significant associations between severe mental illness and both dementia and stroke. The link with dementia was seen across every age group studied, [...]

Targeted blood pressure control may reduce repeat stroke risk after intracerebral haemorrhage, a meta-analysis of nearly 3,000 patients suggests. Intracerebral haemorrhage, or ICH, is a type of haemorrhagic stroke caused by bleeding within the brain. Patients receiving intensive blood pressure-lowering treatment had a 38 per cent lower risk of recurrent stroke than those receiving less [...]

A stroke drug may help preserve and repair myelin damaged by multiple sclerosis, according to a review of animal studies. Nimodipine was also linked to reduced inflammation, nerve damage and disease severity in several of the studies reviewed. Myelin is the protective coating around nerve fibres that is damaged in multiple sclerosis, or MS, disrupting [...]

Four members of the same family will swim the English Channel in a relay to raise money for the Stroke Association. Ryan Godfrey, 52, from Faversham, will take on the challenge with his sons Nathan, 22, Alex, 20, and Ben, 18, braving the world's busiest shipping lane.   The family said they were [...]

On 11 January, I woke up with a headache and an overwhelming feeling that something wasn't right. As a GP registrar, I tried to reassure myself it wasn't a stroke. But within minutes, I lost all power down my left side. I called my wife, who immediately phoned for an ambulance. Shortly afterwards, I lost [...]