Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward

Stroke is a global health problem which is associated with morbidity and mortality. In Malaysia, stroke is one of the top five leading causes of death [1,2]. According to the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) in 2006, the prevalence of stroke was estimated to be 0.3% and progressivel...

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Main Author:	Awang, Mohamed Saufi
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Open Acess Test (oat) 2017
Subjects:	RD Surgery
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/1/Review%20Article.pdf

id	iium-60627
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-606272017-12-19T04:05:20Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/ Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward Awang, Mohamed Saufi RD Surgery Stroke is a global health problem which is associated with morbidity and mortality. In Malaysia, stroke is one of the top five leading causes of death [1,2]. According to the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) in 2006, the prevalence of stroke was estimated to be 0.3% and progressively increased in trend. The fourth NHMS in 2011 reported the incidence as 0.7%. The mean age of stroke patients is between 54.5 to 62.6 years with male preponderance [1,2]. Approximately 80% of stroke cases in Malaysia are ischemic in origin and the remaining as hemorrhagic. This is comparable with reported data from other countries [3,4]. There are many stroke-related risk factors. These can be divided into modifiable and non-modifiable factors such as age, sex and race. Hypertension is the major modifiable risk factor for stroke accounting for 53.2 – 62.6% followed by diabetes mellitus (27.4-55.2%) and hypercholesterolemia (4.8-37.3%). Other risk factors include smoking, ischemic heart disease and history of transient ischemic attack [1-8]. Stroke can cause high level of emotional and physical distress to both the patient and caregiver and carries a substantial burden to the government. For major stroke, the average hospital-stay is estimated around 9.8 days and 3.6 days for minor stroke. The estimated cost of admission for major stroke is MYR 9000 and MYR 3353 for minor stroke [1,9]. Prevention is always better than cure. Early education should be the best method for government to move forward. School children should be taught about healthy diet and lifestyle. These subjects should be included in the curriculum and continuously taught from primary school up to higher level. Malaysia is the most obese country in Asia. The 2015 NHMS reported that 5.6 million of adult age 18 and above was overweight and 3.3 million was obese. The abundance of food and to some extent changing to Western diet is responsible for high obesity rate in Malaysia. Poor lifestyle posed a serious threat to life and health. Smoking habit among school children and adolescents are alarming [10]. Twenty years ago, it is almost difficult to see young female adolescent to smoke in the street or café. Nowadays, it has become a trend and lifestyle. Lack of exercise is another major contributing factor to obesity. Sedentary lifestyle doubles the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity [1,10]. Open Acess Test (oat) 2017-11 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/1/Review%20Article.pdf Awang, Mohamed Saufi (2017) Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward. Surgery and Rehabilitation Journal, 1 (5). p. 1. ISSN 2514-5959 doi: 10.15761/SRJ.1000125
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	RD Surgery
spellingShingle	RD Surgery Awang, Mohamed Saufi Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward
description	Stroke is a global health problem which is associated with morbidity and mortality. In Malaysia, stroke is one of the top five leading causes of death [1,2]. According to the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) in 2006, the prevalence of stroke was estimated to be 0.3% and progressively increased in trend. The fourth NHMS in 2011 reported the incidence as 0.7%. The mean age of stroke patients is between 54.5 to 62.6 years with male preponderance [1,2]. Approximately 80% of stroke cases in Malaysia are ischemic in origin and the remaining as hemorrhagic. This is comparable with reported data from other countries [3,4]. There are many stroke-related risk factors. These can be divided into modifiable and non-modifiable factors such as age, sex and race. Hypertension is the major modifiable risk factor for stroke accounting for 53.2 – 62.6% followed by diabetes mellitus (27.4-55.2%) and hypercholesterolemia (4.8-37.3%). Other risk factors include smoking, ischemic heart disease and history of transient ischemic attack [1-8]. Stroke can cause high level of emotional and physical distress to both the patient and caregiver and carries a substantial burden to the government. For major stroke, the average hospital-stay is estimated around 9.8 days and 3.6 days for minor stroke. The estimated cost of admission for major stroke is MYR 9000 and MYR 3353 for minor stroke [1,9]. Prevention is always better than cure. Early education should be the best method for government to move forward. School children should be taught about healthy diet and lifestyle. These subjects should be included in the curriculum and continuously taught from primary school up to higher level. Malaysia is the most obese country in Asia. The 2015 NHMS reported that 5.6 million of adult age 18 and above was overweight and 3.3 million was obese. The abundance of food and to some extent changing to Western diet is responsible for high obesity rate in Malaysia. Poor lifestyle posed a serious threat to life and health. Smoking habit among school children and adolescents are alarming [10]. Twenty years ago, it is almost difficult to see young female adolescent to smoke in the street or café. Nowadays, it has become a trend and lifestyle. Lack of exercise is another major contributing factor to obesity. Sedentary lifestyle doubles the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity [1,10].
format	Article
author	Awang, Mohamed Saufi
author_facet	Awang, Mohamed Saufi
author_sort	Awang, Mohamed Saufi
title	Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward
title_short	Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward
title_full	Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward
title_fullStr	Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward
title_full_unstemmed	Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward
title_sort	stroke: prevention is better than cure. early education is the way forward
publisher	Open Acess Test (oat)
publishDate	2017
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/60627/1/Review%20Article.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:25:57Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:25:57Z
_version_	1777412192206848000

Stroke: prevention is better than cure. Early education is the way forward

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