At least 43 percent of the adult population in Kyrgyzstan has high blood pressure. However, only 4.3 percent of patients come to hospitals and take medicines regularly. Alina Altymysheva, an employee of the WHO Country Office in the Kyrgyz Republic, announced at a press conference.
She noted that patients with hypertension have from three to four times higher risk of stroke.
«Unfortunately, the population does not know about the symptoms of stroke and does not come to doctors on time. There are several important areas in the fight against stroke in world practice. Firstly, it is control of hypertension. If we want to reduce the number of strokes, we need to target those with blood pressure higher than 140/90 first. These are the very first candidates,» Alina Altymysheva said.
The next factor that can help reduce stroke mortality is special medications — new thrombolytics. «If they are administered in the first 2-4 hours after a stroke, there is a high chance that the patient will remain alive and will not remain disabled,» the employee of the WHO Country Office in the Kyrgyz Republic said.
She noted the importance of early rehabilitation after a stroke. «Unfortunately, when a stroke occurs, people do not know what to do after discharge. And the risk of secondary stroke remains high. Only half of the patients live more than a year,» Alina Altymysheva said.
