ElderWeb

About 400,000 new cases of stroke occur each year in the United States, and stroke is the third most common cause of death and is a leading cause of long-term disability among the elderly. But a study published March 22 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, the Journal of the American Psychosomatic Society, reports that people who are happy are less likely to become victims of strokes, and people who often feel blue tend to have more strokes than older adults who are not depressed.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston reached their conclusions about the apparently protective effect of happiness after analyzing data on 2,478 white and black men and women 65 years of age or older from five North Carolina counties. None of the people in the group whose data was re-examined by the Texas researchers reported having had a stroke at the beginning of the study, but they were tracked with annual interviews, during which time 340 strokes occurred, 75 of them fatal.

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., are recruiting siblings who have suffered a stroke for a new study. Researchers believe inheritance of specific stroke risk genes may explain why stroke tends to run in families. Dr. Thomas Brott, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, is one of the investigators for the multicenter, nationwide study called ?Siblings With Ischemic Stroke Study? or SWISS. The investigators, supported by a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, hope to enroll at least 300 pairs of siblings into the study over the next few years. To qualify for the study, a person has to have had an ischemic stroke within the preceding six months, and he or she must have a living sibling who has also had a stroke in the past. Both must be willing to provide a blood sample and release their medical records to the study investigators who will keep all genetic, demographic and medical information confidential and anonymous.

Those interested who think they may qualify for the study should contact Kristin Cornwell, study coordinator, at the Mayo Physician Alliance for Clinical Trials, by calling 1-800-541-5815, or via e-mail sent to cornwell.kristin@mayo.edu.

The latest issue of Stroke, the Journal of the American Heart Association, features exciting news for stroke victims. Every year, about 600,000 Americans suffer a stroke. Of these victims, 160,000 die and 300,000 are left seriously disabled, often losing the use of an arm or leg. Traditional therapy has had limited success in restoring function to the affected limbs.

This new research focused on the use of "constraint-induced movement therapy", in which the good arm of the patient is restrained in order to force him or her to use the weakened limb continuously throughout the day. The research showed that the area of the cortex that controls muscle movement recovered significantly after just 12 days of therapy, and the brain area actually increased in size by about 83%. The research also indicates that treatment is effective no matter how much time has elapsed since the stroke. The National Institute on Health may institute further research into this treatment.

Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that snake venom may provide an antidote for acute ischemic stroke. Researchers warned that the timing of the administration of the venom was critical. As with intravenous tPA, the treatment must be used within a narrow window of time following the stroke. If used too late, it is not only ineffective, it may be lethal. In an editorial, JAMA editors expressed caution about this treatment, but also indicated their belief that the research findings are too important to ignore.

The American Stroke Association reported at their annual meeting that the use of nurse practitioners in stroke care seems to have extremely good results. By assigning the nurse practitioner to take responsibility for the care of the patient throughout their hospital stay, post-stroke complications were better managed, resulting in fewer deaths and less complications.

Also reported at this meeting was a study that showed that stroke incidence, after declining in the 1960's and 1970's, is on the rise. They estimate that about 1.5 million people will suffer from strokes or "mini-strokes" (TIAs) this year. Researchers speculated that one reason for the increase is that people are surviving other diseases that would have killed them in the past, including heart attacks and diabetes, both of which put them at risk for stroke. Stroke risk also increases with age, and people are living longer than they used to.