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Traumatic brain injury 'linked to significant stroke risk rise'

Friday 29th July 2011

Acquiring a traumatic brain injury has been linked to a tenfold increase in stroke risk, new research shows.

The study, published in the journal Stroke, revealed that in the first three months after a traumatic brain injury, the risk of experiencing the cardiovascular condition increased ten times.

Some 2.91 per cent of traumatic brain injury patients were seen to have a stroke within this time frame, compared to just 0.3 per cent of healthy patients.

This heightened risk was found to diminish over time, however.

After one year, stroke risk was seen to be around 4.6 times greater in patients who had suffered a traumatic brain injury, and after five years vulnerability to the condition had decreased to just 2.3 per cent above that of the general population.

Senior study author Herng-Ching Lin explained: "It's reasonable to assume that cerebrovascular damage in the head caused by a traumatic brain injury can trigger either a hemorrhagic stroke [when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain] or an ischemic stroke [when an artery in the brain is blocked]."

In other news, the US stroke rate for pregnant women and those who have recently given birth saw a sharp rise over the past 12 years, according to another study reported in journal Stroke.

Pregnancy-related stroke hospital admissions increased by 54 per cent, going from 4,085 in 1994-95 to 6,293 in 2006-07.

In addition, pregnant and post partum women aged 25 to 34 were more likely to be hospitalised due to stroke than older or younger mothers.

Lead author Elena V Kuklina said that the magnitude of the increase was surprising.

"More and more women entering pregnancy already have some type of risk factor for stroke, such as obesity, chronic hypertension, diabetes or congenital heart disease. Since pregnancy by itself is a risk factor, if you have one of these other stroke risk factors, it doubles the risk," she explained.

Written by Angela Newbury