WHAT CAUSES STROKE?

Many conditions can cause a stroke, but was originally from hardening of the arteries or also called arteriosclerosis.

"Do not think that the blockage of blood vessels that occurs as a natural aging process," said Virgil Brown, MD, chairman of the American Heart Association and professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, because arteriosclerosis is the result of modern lifestyle that is full of stress, diet high-fat, and less exercise. All three are actually classified in the risk factors that can be controlled. Of course there are other factors that can not be controlled. Both will be described below.

RISK FACTORS UNCONTROLLED

Included in this factor is the age group, gender, lineage, and certain racial or ethnic

Age of

The more you grow older, the more risk. After 55 years, the risk doubles every ten years. Two-thirds of all strokes occur in people aged over 65 years. However, it does not mean that stroke only happens to older people because a stroke can affect all age groups

· Type genital

Men are more at risk of stroke than women, but the study concluded that even more women who died of a stroke. 1.25 man's risk of stroke is higher than women, but stroke in men occurs at a younger age so the survival rate is also higher. In other words, although less frequently affected by stroke, in general, women infected at older ages, so the chances of dying is greater.

· Heredity-a family history of stroke in

Apparently, a stroke associated with heredity. Genetic factors are very influential among other high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and blood vessel defects in shape. Lifestyle and a family can also support the risk of stroke. Defects in blood vessels form (cadasil) is perhaps the most influential genetic factor than the other stroke risk factors.

CONTROLLED RISK FACTORS

There is also risk factors that can actually be cured with the help of drugs or life changes.

Hypertension

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a major risk factor leading to hardening and blockage of the arteries. Patients with hypertension have a risk factor for stroke four to six times higher than people without hypertension and about 40 to 90 percent of stroke patients was suffering from hypertension before the stroke.

Medically, the blood pressure above 140-90 classified in hypertension. Therefore the impact of hypertension on the overall risk of stroke decreases with increasing age, the elderly, other factors beyond hypertension play a greater role on the risk of stroke. In people who do not suffer from hypertension, the risk of stroke rose steadily until the age of 90, equaling the risk of stroke in people who suffer from hypertension.

Numerous studies show anti-hypertensive drugs can reduce the risk of stroke by 38 percent and reduction in mortality from stroke by 40 percent.

· Heart disease

After hypertension, the following are risk factors for heart disease, especially a disease called atrial fibrilation, namely heart disease with an irregular heartbeat in the left upper chamber. Heart rate in the left atrium is achieved four times faster than in other parts of the heart. This causes the blood flow becomes irregular and incidental the formation of blood clots. The clumps is then able to reach the brain and cause strokes. In people aged over 80 years, atrial fibrilation is the leading cause of death in one in four cases of stroke.

Other heart diseases are defects in the form of heart valve (mitral valve stenosis or mitral valve calcification). Also defects in the form of heart muscle, such as PFO (patent foramen ovale) or holes in the heart wall that separates the two upper chambers. Naturally, a clot in the blood are usually filtered in the lungs, but because of the hollow, the heart wall can pass the blood clot was so not through the lungs but directly to the vessel in the brain causing a stroke.

Other heart valve defects are the ASA (atrial septal aneurysm) or a form of congenital defects (birth) in cardiac tissue, the heart wall bubbles toward one of the chambers of the heart. PFO and ASA are often occurs simultaneously increasing the risk of stroke.

Still there are two forms of heart defects that seem to increase risk of stroke with no obvious cause. The first is the enlargement of the left atrial-left cardiac chambers larger than normal size, so that the heart rhythm becomes limp. Others are left ventricular hypertrophy, in which the wall of the left ventricle is thicker so it is less elastic blood pumping.

Furthermore, other factors may occur in the implementation of cardiac surgery that attempts to fix the defective form of heart or cardiovascular disease. Unexpectedly, the plaque can be detached from the wall of the aorta (aortic trunks), then float to follow the flow of blood to the neck to the brain which then causes a stroke.

· Diabetes

People with diabetes have a threefold risk of stroke and reached the highest levels at age 50-60 years. After that, the risk will be lowered. However, there are other factors that may increase the risk of stroke because about 40 percent of diabetics in general also suffer from hypertension.

· Blood cholesterol levels

Research shows that foods rich in saturated fat and cholesterol such as meat, eggs, and dairy products can raise cholesterol levels in the body and affect the risk of atherosclerosis and thickening of the vessel. Cholesterol levels below 200 mg / dl is considered safe, whereas above 240 mg / dl is dangerous and puts a person at risk of heart disease and stroke.

Improve cholesterol levels with a healthy diet and regular exercise can reduce the risk of atherosclerosis and stroke. In certain cases, doctors can deliver drugs to lower cholesterol.

· Smoking

Smoking is a risk factor for stroke is actually the most easily changed. Heavy smokers face a greater risk than light smokers. Smoking nearly doubles the risk of ischemic stroke, regardless of other risk factors, and may also increase the risk of subarachnoid hemorrhagic to 3.5 percent. Smoking is the real cause of occurrence of stroke, which occurs more frequently in adults younger than age middle-aged or older. Indeed, the risk of stroke decreases immediately after smoking cessation and is evident in the period 2-4 years after quitting smoking. Please note that smoking triggers the production of fibrinogen (blood coagulant factor) more so induce atherosclerosis.

In smoker patients, the damage caused by stroke is much more severe because the inner wall (endothelial) in the vascular system of the brain (cerebrovascular) usually become weak. This causes even greater damage to the brain as a result of a stroke when the second stage.

· Excessive Alcohol

In general, increased alcohol consumption increases blood pressure increasing the risk of stroke, either ischemic or hemorrhagic. However, no excessive alcohol consumption may reduce the clotting of platelets in the blood, seoerti halnva asnirin. With

Thus, alcohol consumption are considered adequate to protect the body from the dangers of ischemic stroke. On the issue of 18 November, 2000 from The New England Journal of Medicine, reported that the Physicians Health Study which monitored 22 000 men for an average of 12 years consume alcohol once a day. Apparently, the results showed a decrease in overall risk of stroke. Klaus Berger M.D. from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and colleagues also found that this benefit is still seen in the consumption of one drink a week. Nevertheless, the discipline of using the benefits of alcohol consumption is quite difficult to control and side effects of alcohol are even more dangerous.

Moreover, other studies have concluded that excessive alcohol consumption can affect the number of platelets thereby affecting the viscosity and clotting of blood, which leads to bleeding in the brain and increases the risk of ischemic stroke.

· Drugs

Use of illicit drugs such as cocaine and other dairy compounds can lead to stroke, in addition to other risk factors that trigger such as hypertension, heart disease, and vascular disease. Cocaine is also causing the heart rate disorders (arrythmias) or heart rate go faster. Each led to the formation of clots darah.Marijuana reduce blood pressure and when interacting with other risk factors, such as hypertension and smoking, will cause the blood pressure up and down rapidly. This situation also has the potential to damage the blood vessels.

· Head and neck injuries

Injuries to the head or traumatic brain injury can cause bleeding in the brain and cause the same damage as in hemorrhagic stroke. Injury to the neck, when linked to the backbone or tearing of the carotid arteries, caused by stretching or excessive screening of the neck or the pressure on the artery-a cause of stroke is quite a role, especially at a young age adults.

· Infection

Viral and bacterial infections can be joined with other risk factors and establish the risk of stroke. Naturally, the immune system usually do perlawananan against infection in the form of increased inflammation and infection of the blood deterrence properties. Unfortunately, this also increases the immune reaction in the blood clotting factors that trigger the risk of embolic-ischemic stroke.

STROKE IN WOMEN

Also need to watch out for specific stroke risk in women using oral contraceptives, pregnancy and childbirth, and menopause.

· Use of oral contraceptives

Stroke risk factors are associated with hormonal fluctuations and changes that affect a woman in various stages in his life. Research shows that oral contraceptives old kind, with a high content of estrogen may increase the risk of stroke in women. However, a new type of oral contraceptives with lower estrogen content, significantly did not increase the risk of stroke in women.

· Pregnancy and childbirth

Other studies have shown that pregnancy and childbirth put a woman at risk of stroke, although not high, ie 8 out of 100 pregnant women. The biggest stroke risk often occurs in a period of 6 weeks after delivery (post-parturn). The cause is unknown, but hormonal changes in late pregnancy can increase the risk of stroke.

· Menopause

Various studies have shown when estrogen production decreases at menopause, the risk of stroke in women increases dramatically. To reduce the influence of menopause as well as reduce the risk of stroke kadangkali suggested HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) but the therapy needs to be done with control physicians to minimize side effects (breast cancer and cervical cancer).

STROKE IN YOUNG AGE

Clinical Experts often divide the younger group in two categories, namely under the age of 15 years, and aged between 15 to 44 years. The young people seem more likely to suffer hemorrhagic stroke than ischemic stroke. A child who suffered a stroke may be loss of voice, loss of expressive language (including body language and gestures), loss of power on one side of the body (hemiparesis), paralysis on one side of the body (hemiplegia), damage to speech (dysarthria).