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Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, chairman, Subhadra Nambudiri |
Leading medical professionals of the country feel that timely recognition of the stroke symptoms and change in lifestyle can prevent many brain-stroke deaths because every minute counts in stroke treatment. They said that brain stroke had emerged as the third leading cause of death in the world with various epidemiological studies reporting its prevalence in India to as high as 800 per 100,000 population. Delivering the third Subhadra Nambudiri Memorial Lecture, 2004, on ´Time is Brain´ in New Delhi, Dr P.N. Renjan, senior consultant, neurology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said that various studies report the incidence of stroke in young adults in India from 18.8 per cent to 32 per cent of all stroke cases. In his address, Dr S.K. Wangnoo, senior consultant, endocrinology and diabetes at the Apollo Hospital, said that heart attacks and strokes could be prevented by changing one´s lifestyle, including elimination of all tobacco products, inclusion of a healthy diet, maintaining optimal weight, doing regular exercise and avoiding stressful situations. Dr Harsh Rastogi, senior interventional neuro-radiologist at the Apollo Hospital, said if the stroke patients reach the hospital within the first hours of the brain stroke, they can be successfully treated.
