HHS HealthBeat (February 08, 2007)

Take stroke seriously

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

If you were having a stroke, would you ignore the symptoms? A study finds a lot of people do.

Researchers at the University of Alabama-Birmingham looked at data on about 20,000 people who were asked about stroke symptoms. The work supported by the National Institutes of Health was reported at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2007.

Researcher Virginia Howard says about 13 percent reported stroke symptoms.

"Concerningly, only about 58 percent of these people actually sought care." (6 seconds)

Howard says they were not heeding things like sudden weakness or numbness on one side, sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, and being unable to communicate or understand others.

If this happens to you, she says, seek medical help fast. Treatment is best started quickly.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: February, 16 2007