Strokes May Follow 'Body Clock'

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Strokes May Follow 'Body Clock'

They usually strike in morning or early evening, study finds

 

 

FRIDAY, Aug. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Strokes may be timed to the body's

internal clock, Japanese researchers say.

 

Researchers at Iwate Medical University analyzed data from 13,000

patients who had one of three types of stroke -- cerebral infarction,

subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracerebral hemorrhage -- for the first time.

 

All three kinds of strokes had two periods of peak occurrence: one

between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and another between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Stroke

occurrence declined significantly during sleep.

 

Upon closer analysis, the researchers did find that cerebral infarction

-- where blood flow to the brain is restricted -- had a higher peak in

the morning and a lower peak in the afternoon than the other two kinds

of stroke, which were more likely to have lower peaks in the morning and

higher peaks in the afternoon.

 

About 20 percent of cerebral infarction occurred during sleep, with most

of them concentrated in the time immediately before waking up, although

it's likely the stroke would have actually begun earlier, the study

authors said.

 

The findings were published in the Aug. 17 online edition of the Journal

of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

 

More information

 

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has

more about stroke <http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/stroke.htm>

..

 

 

 

-- Robert Preidt