Speed of Drawing Lines to Connect Numbers may Help Assess If First Stroke Would be Fatal

The speed with which one draws a series of lines connecting numbers in an ascending order could be enough to test whether the first stroke could prove fatal among older men. More than 1,000 men aged between 57 and 75 years took part in the study conducted by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden. The researchers followed them up after 14 years and concluded that those who were in the bottom third of the time score were three times more likely to die after their first stroke compared to those in the top third.

“As the tests are very simple, cheap and easily accessible for clinical use, they could be a valuable tool - alongside traditional methods like measuring blood pressure (and) asking about smoking - for identifying risk of stroke, but also as a possible important predictor of post-stroke mortality”, lead researcher Dr Bernice Wiberg said.



Source-Medindia