Stroke Patients Face Malnutrition Risk

Stroke patients are likely to experience eating problems, even three months after the attack, with more than half of them risking malnutrition, study finds.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, studied 36 stroke patients, assessing them in hospital for an average of five days.

How to Deal with a Stroke - Signs - Symptoms - Risk Factors - Prevention
Stroke is a brain attack, which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted. It affects all age groups; according to the WHO, 15 million people are affected by stroke annually.

They again assessed them three months after their stroke, when they were back in the community, with the majority living in their own homes, the Journal of Advanced Nursing reports.

All had experienced eating difficulties, reduced alertness or swallowing problems after their stroke. Just over half of the patients were female (58 percent) and were aged between 40 and 80 years, according to a Karolinska statement.

"Approximately five days after they had had their stroke 78 percent of the patients were at nutritional risk and by three months this figure was still 56 percent," said study author Jorgen Medin from the Karolinska clinical sciences department.

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Strokes occur when the blood flow to an area of the brain is cut off. It is imperative to detect the signs of a stroke and rush the patient to the hospital at once. Here are some interesting facts on stroke.

"Although some of the patients' eating abilities improved at the three-month follow-up, the majority remained unchanged and some even deteriorated," said Medin.

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