Up to five children a day in the UK are suffering from undiagnosed strokes, new research suggests.
Experts from Bristol University are studying what they say is a “striking lack of public and medicalawareness” of childhood strokes. This condition is thought to be as common as some cancers.
The average time between the onset of symptoms to presentation to a medical professional, for children suffering a stroke, is five-and-a-half hours. This means many young stroke sufferers do not benefit from life-saving treatments because they are are diagnosed too late. Stroke was given as the cause of death for nearly 1,500 children between 1979 and 2000.
Strokes in Infants and Children – Statistics
People seldom associate stroke with infants and children, but 12 percent of pediatric age deaths are caused by strokes. Fortunately the occurrence of strokes in children is relatively low. Approximately six in every 100,000 children per year will have a stroke, about one-third of these are in newborns. The signs of a stroke are often not recognized, especially in children. On average it takes 48 to 72 hours after the onset of symptoms before children are taken to the hospital.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS):
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In Newborns, strokes occur at the rate of 1 in 5000
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In Children, strokes occur at the rate of 3 in 100,000
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Stroke is one of the top ten causes of death in children
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10 percent of children who have a stroke will die each year
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20 to 35 percent of infant stroke survivors will have another stroke
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Two-thirds of survivors will have neurological deficits or seizures
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