Stroke: Regular checks could avert risk

The advice came as hundreds turned out at Garki Hospital Abuja for free medical screening – blood glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, hepatitis B and C, HIV – as part of events marking World Stroke Day.“Ignorance keeps people in bliss. They have the feeling that everything is perfect, meanwhile things may be going absolutely wrong,” said […]

The advice came as hundreds turned out at Garki Hospital Abuja for free medical screening – blood glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, hepatitis B and C, HIV – as part of events marking World Stroke Day.
“Ignorance keeps people in bliss. They have the feeling that everything is perfect, meanwhile things may be going absolutely wrong,” said Dr Nyomudim Essen, head of clinical services at GHA.
“That’s why we keep preaching to people to go for medical check-up once in a while but unfortunately many Nigerians see it as a waste of funds, a waste of scarce resources in a country where the per capita income is really small.”
Routine checkups can flag conditions that would otherwise turn critical eventually, experts said, even those that lead to stroke – disruption in blood supply to the brain.
It is uncertain the prevalence of stroke in Nigeria, because of insufficient data, so only available data on stroke prevalence comes from hospitals.
Getting the exact picture of stroke is “difficult because some people have mild ones that are never reported,” said Dr Essen.
“Many may even die before they get to the hospital and all sort of things attributed to their death.”
But up to 80% of stroke cases seen in hospitals occur in patients with hypertension or diabetes or both – two of the most consistent risk factors in Nigeria – alongside age, gender, high cholesterol levels and increasing weight.
“Any person who has hypertension, with diabetes, the risk increases exponentially for stroke,” said Dr Essen.