Stroke (cerebrovascular accident) is currently the 3rd cause of death in Europe, all pathologies combined. During his visit to Paris on October 29, 2024, Professor Denis Vivien, one of the world’s leading stroke specialists, spoke with Top Santé about the symptoms and the right actions to facilitate the diagnosis.
One of the professor’s observations? 1 in 6 people will have a stroke in their lifetime by 2030 in Western countries with 150,000 cases per year in France and a larger proportion among women.
Why are women more at risk? Are the symptoms different? Top Santé enlightens you with the help of Professor Denis Vivien, who directs the INSERM PHIND research unit and the BB@C Institute within the University and Hospital Center of Caen.
Men arrive at the hospital before women…
Let’s first remember that a stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of your brain is interrupted due to a blood clot or when a cerebral artery ruptures, causing hemorrhage. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide.
If women are particularly exposed to risk, according to Professor Vivien, it would be linked to our hormones. “Menopause and taking contraceptives increase the risk of thrombosis (blood clot, editor’s note). Be careful, taking a contraceptive is not enough to cause a stroke. A combination of risk factors is required”.
Risk factors for stroke include age (from 60-65 years old) but above all lifestyle, namely daily diet, consumption of alcohol or tobacco, etc.
“Among women, we also face a problem of care. They often pay more attention to their husband than to themselves (or than their husband to her), emphasizes the doctor. It’s a fact, men arrive at the hospital faster than women”.
In addition, we also know that a sedentary lifestyle, tobacco and alcohol harm health and promote stroke. “Today, there are more women who smoke and tend to consume more alcohol than a few years ago. Women are catching up with men in this field”, underlines Professor Vivien.
Are stroke symptoms different in women?
If he had to cite the symptoms most often observed in men and women affected by stroke, Professor Vivien would cite first signals related to loss of neurological function : loss of vision, facial deformation or loss of use of a limb.
“Unlike heart disease, there are no differences between the symptoms observed in women and men for stroke”, adds the expert who insists on the sudden nature of the symptoms. “The symptom is not progressive, it occurs suddenly”.
“Be careful, these phenomena can occur transiently. But whatever happens, you must contact emergency services. Even if the symptom does not last, you may have a TIA”, warns Professor Vivien. TIA involves symptoms that usually last less than an hour and leave no brain damage. Its symptoms are the same as stroke, but they last from a few seconds to a few minutes (less than an hour) before returning to normal without after-effects. TIA is an emergency: it is a warning signal because the risk of a more serious stroke occurring in the following days is great. It is therefore an emergency and an assessment is essential: you must call 15.
“In case of symptoms, do not delay and call 15, and not your GP”, adds Professor Vivien.
“The quicker and more accurate the diagnosis, the better the treatment will be”
Professor Vivien is at the origin of an award-winning project, which targets ischemic strokes. It opens the way to treatments capable of limiting after-effects by improving brain oxygenation. At the same time, he is also leading research into innovative contrast products to improve the visualization of blood clots during stroke.
“We work on the diagnosis: because the faster and more precise it is, the better the treatment will be. It is difficult to know the origin of an ischemic stroke (a clot that migrates into the brain, editor’s note) and we cannot visualize it by imaging. A new tool, which is injected into the brain, makes it possible to determine whether it is indeed a stroke and where the clot is located.shares the specialist.
Source: www.topsante.com
