Qatar has joined countries across the world in raising awareness of the importance of early intervention for stroke, one of the leading causes of death and the world’s leading cause of chronic disabilities. The World Stroke Day was marked yesterday under the theme ‘Use Heart to Beat Cardiovascular Disease'. As part of the activities, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) launched an awareness campaign on social media. Several videos were released in both English and Arabic about signs and symptoms of stroke.
“Due to the widespread risk factors leading to a stroke in Qatar such as diabetes, obesity, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, lack of mobility and physical activity, Qatar’s stroke rate is high,” said HMC in its social media pages. “If you suspect or have a stroke on your surroundings, please call 999 immediately so that ambulance and medical care teams can respond and provide treatment as soon as possible. Don’t ignore the symptoms even if they disappear quickly, as these symptoms may serve as a warning sign of the possibility of a stroke,” HMC added. HMC is the sole provider of acute stroke care in Qatar and in recent years its Stroke Service has undergone an enormous transformation.
Since 2014, the Stroke Service has twice been accredited by the Joint Commission International, endorsing the quality and safety of the care provided to patients. “Hamad General Hospital is fully equipped for acute stroke care with the Stroke Service’s multidisciplinary team able to provide thrombolysis and interventional thrombectomy for patients who meet the criteria. Since the launch of the Neuroscience Institute, the service has cared for more than 12,000 patients, 19% of them being Qatari Nationals,” said Dr. Naveed Akhtar, Senior Consultant Neurologist, Head of Stroke Service of HMC recently.
According to a recent study titled ‘Stroke in the Adult Qatari Population: A Hospital-based Retrospective Cohort Study’, Qatari women, in particular, were found to have an increased risk of recurrent strokes, disability, and higher mortality, compared with males. Stroke ranks after only heart disease as the leading cause of death worldwide. Major risk factors for stroke include hypertension, smoking, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and obesity. Diabetes and high blood pressure are common among Qatari stroke patients — more than two-thirds of the studied patients were diabetic or had high blood pressure. Most common symptoms of a stroke are difficulty in talking, severe headache, weakness or numbness, loss of vision and unsteadiness.
