A stroke is a pathology that occurs as a result of circulatory disorders in the brain. Neurons in the affected area do not receive the right amount of oxygen and nutrients. This leads to their death. Unfortunately, often a person dies immediately after an attack, but there are patients who continue to live, and they return to work and lead a full life. In such patients, all functions are restored, but it is no longer possible to consider them completely healthy. How many people live after a stroke? What factors affect the forecasts? How can I extend my life expectancy after a stroke? This will be discussed below.
Is it possible to fully live after an attack?
According to statistics, 60 years is considered the most critical age for a stroke. However, at present, this disease is increasingly common in younger people, and stroke can be diagnosed even in people after 30 years. Each human body is individual, and copes with diseases in different ways. Someone becomes less active, but continues to work, others after an attack have to re-learn to talk and walk. However, many have a chance to recover, for this it is necessary to adhere to all the recommendations of the doctor, to maintain your body as much as possible and not to overwork.
After a stroke, the patient is recommended:
- eat properly;
- perform special exercises;
- engage regularly
- take psychological help and moral support.
Which stroke is more dangerous - hemorrhagic or ischemic?
How many people live after a stroke? It directly depends on the type of pathology. The following types of pathology are distinguished:
- ischemic;
- hemorrhagic;
- spinal;
- microstroke;
- subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Most often, ischemic, hemorrhagic and microstroke are diagnosed.
Ischemic stroke occurs after thrombosis and blockage of the vascular lumens, in connection with this, the cells begin to experience oxygen deficiency, and if the necessary actions are not taken very quickly, they will die, and the patient will gradually lose intellectual and physical skills. Since the clinical signs of the disease can occur after a few hours, a person does not always consult a doctor, and this is a very big mistake. Neurons die, and this process cannot stop without the help of a doctor.
If therapy is not delivered on time, it may develop:
- loss of visual and speech ability;
- loss of sensation in the upper limbs;
- loss of memory - partial or complete;
- paralysis;
- pathologies of a urological nature;
- mental disorders;
- violations of fine motor skills and coordination of movements.
How many people live after an ischemic stroke? Ischemic stroke is not as terrible as hemorrhagic. According to statistics, the life expectancy after a hemorrhagic stroke is lower than with the first type of pathology. With ischemic stroke, the chances of recovery are higher. However, a positive prognosis is possible only if the patient fulfills all the requirements of the doctor.
Hemorrhagic stroke is accompanied by more serious consequences, since the pathology is associated with ruptures of the vascular walls, aneurysms or tumors in the brain. In this case, even the slightest delay in the provision of medical care can lead not only to disability, but also to death, because brain tissue is deeply affected.
The consequences may be as follows:
- blindness;
- loss of speech ability;
- intellectual property and motor impairment;
- paralysis;
- tissue necrosis, cerebral edema, or heart attack.
Most often, the life expectancy after a hemorrhagic stroke type depends on age. In younger patients, even after rehabilitation, physical skills partially return, and older people, as a rule, do not survive.
Stroke at a young age
I must say that people from 20 to 45 years old are most often diagnosed with hemorrhagic strokes, and at an older age, almost 80% have ischemic strokes.
Provoking factors of ischemic stroke in young and middle age:
- hypertension, atherosclerosis;
- cardiogenic embolism, cardiac rheumatism, excessive enthusiasm for oral contraceptives;
- injuries of the cervical vessels.
Provoking factors of hemorrhagic stroke:
- arterial hypertension;
- systemic blood diseases;
- aneurysms and other pathologies of the cerebral vessels.
Factors that can trigger both types of stroke:
- severe infectious diseases;
- brain tumors;
- bleeding disorders;
- excess weight;
- sedentary lifestyle;
- bad habits;
- stresses.
Stroke in old age
How many older people live after a stroke? In older people, the disease can occur for the following reasons:
- hypertension
- kidney disease
- problems with the endocrine system;
- diabetes;
- vascular aneurysms;
- atrial fibrillation;
- rheumatism;
- high cholesterol;
- sedentary lifestyle;
- any severe viral disease.
The most common cause of stroke in older people is atherosclerosis, which can provoke a large number of attacks per year, and they can be completely unnoticed by a person. If such a process continues for a long time, it is impossible to survive - a lethal outcome occurs.
How many people live after a stroke in old age is a difficult question. According to statistics, the forecasts are as follows:
- With extensive hemorrhage that occurred in the brain center - a fatal outcome.
- With atherosclerosis and hypertension, survival is possible in rare cases, and the consequences will be very serious.
- With cerebral edema, the prognosis is also poor.
- With relapse, death.
The average life expectancy after a stroke that occurred after 80 years is a week. It turns out that the larger the age, the less chance of not only recovery, but also survival in general.
Official data
What do doctors say about life expectancy after a stroke? Statistics provide the following data:
- after 1 stroke, the fatal outcome is 15 - 45%;
- after ischemic stroke, the fatal outcome is 15 - 25%;
- after 1 hemorrhagic stroke, the fatal outcome is 45%;
- with relapse, death occurs in 70%;
- the majority of stroke victims die in the first month;
- with each subsequent month, the chances of survival and partial recovery increase;
- 80% live after a stroke;
- 40% live for more than five years;
- more than 10 years - 20%.
It should be understood that the above figures are averaged. How many years does a person live after a stroke? This can only be said by a doctor, and only with respect to a particular patient.
The effect of stroke
As already mentioned, after a hemorrhagic stroke, the prognosis for survival is worse. How many people live after an ischemic stroke? It depends on the quality of patient care, but 75% manage to survive the acute period. Agree, the data is pretty encouraging.
How many people live after a hemorrhagic stroke? It also depends on the quality of life of the patient and the timeliness of the provision of qualified medical care. The percentage of living in the acute period is 50%, and then, perhaps, the patient will live for a year, and maybe a dozen years.
Repeated stroke
Almost everything that was said above concerned people who had a stroke for the first time, now we need to talk about how many people live after a second stroke.
In this case, the forecasts worsen significantly. After a second attack, only 30% of patients manage to live a year, and only 10% - two or more. After 3 strokes, up to a year 10% can live, and only 5% live two years, but this happens in extremely rare cases.
Impact of consequences and complications
How many people live after 2 strokes or after an initial episode? This directly depends on the speed of medical care and possible complications. The most dangerous consequences of pathology are:
- swelling of the meninges;
- wedge of the brain stem;
- coma.
With these complications, life forecasts are very unfavorable. When a brain stem is wedged in, a fatal outcome is observed in 90%. But a coma can last for weeks, months or even years. Doctors cannot give accurate predictions when a person will come out of a coma, and what consequences this will lead to.
Other consequences - paralysis and paresis, complete or partial loss of memory, etc. not only affects the patient's quality of life after a stroke, but also its life expectancy.
I must say that patients who have successfully rehabilitated (physically and socially) live after a stroke for 3-7 years longer than those who do not undergo rehabilitation measures.
How to increase life expectancy
So, summing up, we can draw conclusions. How long does a person live after a stroke if he happened in a young, middle and old age?
The following factors affect the life expectancy after a stroke:
- The extent of the lesion. With a large area of damage, the cellular structures suffer so much that they can no longer be restored. This in turn leads to the fact that malfunctions in the work of other organs are observed in the body.
- The severity of the effects of a stroke. Patients cannot lead a full life with a mental disorder, loss of speech functionality, lack of sensitivity and motor function. Such conditions often lead to pressure sores, intoxications and other complications that significantly reduce the life expectancy.
- Age. Elderly people are less likely to recover from an attack. Their cells are not able to quickly update, and as a result of vascular pathologies, a relapse of the disease and heart attack occurs. I must say that women have more chances to recover, this is due to physiological characteristics, therefore, in addition to age, gender also plays a role.
- Prolonged state of immobility. If the patient does not participate in the rehabilitation program, his muscles begin to lose tone, in addition, the blood circulation of internal organs deteriorates, as a result of which his condition becomes worse and life expectancy is reduced.
- Localization of the lesion. The prognosis for life, its quality and duration depends on which part of the brain was affected by the disease.
To improve the quality of life of the patient, and, therefore, extend his life, the doctor prescribes the following measures:
- taking medications;
- treatment of pathologies that can aggravate the condition of the patient;
- diet;
- massage;
- physiotherapy;
- surgery if necessary.
Drug therapy should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor, with the right approach to treatment, you can achieve:
- restoration of damaged cellular structures;
- adjust metabolic processes;
- improve blood circulation and enrichment of brain cells with oxygen.
If you refuse drugs that stop seizures, a relapse of the disease is possible, which will lead to a coma or death.
Rehabilitation in the first month after a stroke is as follows:
- stay in a medical facility;
- medical measures to restore damaged cells;
- restoration of muscle performance - gymnastics, and moderate physical activity;
- massage.
In the future, it is necessary:
- restore speech;
- stick to a diet;
- regularly walk in the air.
To avoid a repeated episode of stroke, you must:
- regularly see a doctor;
- to refuse from bad habits;
- refrain from prohibited foods;
- to lose weight;
- walk regularly;
- engage in physical exercises recommended by a specialist;
- treat other chronic ailments.
In addition to restoring physical activity, attention must be paid to the adaptation of psychological and social. This is especially important for people of working age, since they have every chance to return to a normal rhythm of life. If, when caring for elderly patients who have suffered a stroke, relatives need to take over most of their worries, in relation to younger patients, isolation from various everyday activities is not necessary, on the contrary, the person needs to be prompted with words that he forgets, and all the time put before him simple and feasible tasks at home.
It is very important that the person feels necessary. If a return to a previous job is not possible, a simpler job must be found. Older people need help finding a hobby. It is necessary to praise the patient for his success, to create a favorable atmosphere in the family.
The first productive time is considered to be the most productive time for recovery from a stroke, after which the recovery process slows down, and the body begins to adapt to a functional disorder that has appeared.
Conclusion
The patient after a stroke can live a different number of years. What factors play a role in this have been discussed above. If medical assistance was provided in a timely manner and the patient underwent the recommended rehabilitation measures, as well as the prevention of repeated episodes of the disease, he has a chance to return to the usual rhythm of life and significantly improve his condition. We can say that the most important role in the process of patient recovery is assigned to the relatives and relatives of the patient. The degree of recovery after a stroke largely depends on them. After all, a person is often unable to perform even the simplest actions after brain damage. And the future depends on how much medical staff and relatives help him.