This blog was contributed by Jelena
Misita, Communication Manager for the Stroke Alliance for Europe. SAFE is a member of the World Stroke Organisation and supports the World Stroke Campaign.
Stroke is a humanitarian catastrophe happening in Europe as we speak. A
combination of otherwise welcome factors - people are living longer and with better
access to healthcare - has led to more people having and surviving stroke and more people being
left with disabilities. The result is that the overall burden of stroke in Europe is set to
rise dramatically over the next 20 years. This is why it essential that we
understand and take action to prevent stroke from happening in the first place.
For better prevention, we need more raising awareness campaigns,
supported by governments, medics and stroke support organisations. Ten risk
factors are accountable for 90% of strokes and people should be aware that
stroke can be prevented if these risk factors are properly controlled.
While age, gender and family background cannot be influenced, high blood
pressure, irregular heartbeat, high cholesterol, as some of the most important
risk factors for stroke, should be better known, controlled and treated to
prevent stroke.
While death rates from stroke have been falling over the last twenty
years, your chance of dying from a stroke varies greatly according to where in
Europe you live. Currently, rates of deaths from stroke in different countries
range from 30 per 100,000 of the population to 170 per 100,000 of the
population.
Despite
most European countries having guidelines for risk factors such as high blood
pressure and atrial fibrillation, there is significant under-treatment. And
well below half of all people treated for high blood pressure, for example, are
actually on enough medication to get their blood pressure below the desired
target level.
Across
Europe primary and secondary prevention strategies are not working well enough
to control hypertension, the biggest risk factor for stroke.
The
projections in the Burden of Stroke Report (Stroke Alliance for Europe, 2017)
indicate that between 2015 and 2035, overall there will be a 34% increase in total number of stroke
events in the European Union from 613,148
in 2015 to 819,771 in 2035. The
number of people living with stroke as a chronic condition from 3,718,785 in 2015 to 4,631,050 in 2035, an increase of
almost one million or 25% across the EU.
This means
the direct healthcare cost of stroke estimated at €20 billion in 2015 and total healthcare and non-healthcare costs of
45 billion euros are set to grow even
further. On top of those figures the Informal care costs of around €16 billion in the EU in 2015. Furthermore,
GDP losses due to death and morbidity add another €9.4 billion to the tally.
With risk
factors such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and atrial fibrillation on the
rise, the health of Europe in its broadest sense
requires urgent coordinated action on stroke.
