Hong Kong (dpa) - One form of fatal strokes is more likely to
affect people in winter than the summer, a team of Hong Kong medical
experts said Friday.
Neurologists found a far higher incidence of strokes caused by
aneurismal subarachnoid haemorrhage, a rupture that leads to blood
filling the space surrounding the brain, in winter when temperatures
are lower and atmospheric pressure higher.
The team from Hong Kong's Prince of Wales Hospital studied 135
patients over a period of four years and found the majority of cases
took place in the winter, with the peak month being January.
Patients should pay particular attention to symptoms such as
sudden, severe headaches during winter to reduce the risk of a fatal
stroke, the doctors suggested.
Neurosurgeon George Wong, speaking on the government-run radio
station RTHK, said the strokes killed one in two sufferers and
affected smokers or people with untreated hypertension.
"People should have greater awareness in winter," he said.
"Symptoms such as the sudden onset of a severe headache should not be
ignored; otherwise, a chance to cure the disease may be lost."
The findings of the team, which is continuing its study by trying
to find out what brain processes change as a result of atmospheric
pressure, were published Friday in the Hong Kong Medical Journal.
Aneurismal subarachnoid haemorrhages are among the less common
types of strokes and are most likely to occur spontaneously and not
as a result of an injury.
Copyright 2009 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH