|
 Based on 700 children across nine countries, researchers linked
having had a recent illness like bronchitis, ear infection or "strep
throat" to a six-fold rise in stroke risk. Having few or none of the
routine childhood vaccinations was tied to a seven-fold rise in
risk.
“We’re always trying to raise awareness that childhood stroke
happens at all,” said lead author Dr. Heather J. Fullerton of UCSF
Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco.
It is more common in kids who have other risk factors, like
congenital heart disease or sickle cell disease, Fullerton told
Reuters Health. Some parents of children with chronic conditions
wonder if it is safe to vaccinate their kids, and these results
indicate it is even more important that they do.
Parents should be reassured to know that infection prevention
measures like hand washing and vaccines can help prevent stroke as
well, she said.
From birth to age 19 years, the rate of strokes among youth in the
U.S. is about five per 100,000 children. In comparison, about three
in 100 adults aged 45 to 65 have a stroke each year, according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Up to 40 percent of kids who have a stroke will die from it,
according to the American Stroke Association.
Fullerton and her coauthors used medical records and parental
interviews for 355 children under age 18 who experienced a stroke
and compared them to records and parental interviews for 354
children without stroke.
Half of the children with stroke were age seven or older.
In the stroke group, 18 percent of the children had contracted some
kind of infection in the week before the stroke occurred, while
three percent of children in the comparison group had an infection
in the week before the study interview.
Stroke risk was only increased for a one-week period during
infection. Infections a month earlier were not tied to stroke risk,
according to the results in Neurology.
“There’s been suspicion about a link between infection and stroke
for a while, moreso in adults,” she said. “But whenever it was
brought up, people always questioned whether cold medications played
a role.”
According to this analysis, the infection itself triggers the
stroke, not cold medicines, which were used infrequently by parents
in the study.
[to top of second column] |
“When you have an infection, the body mounts immune response,” which
manifests as fever, aches and blood that clots more easily,
Fullerton said.
In stroke, a blood clot blocks blood flow to the brain.
“One can speculate that changes in the body as a result of infection
may tip the balance in a child already at higher risk for stroke,”
said Dr. Jose Biller, chair of neurology at the Loyola University
Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, who coauthored an editorial in
the same issue of the journal.
“Parents should not be alarmed if their child has a cold that this
will lead to stroke,” Biller told Reuters Health.
But they should be encouraged to continue with routine infection
prevention practices, including the regular pediatric vaccine
schedule, he said.
“Most physicians will agree that vaccines are among the safest
medical products, they are rigorously tested and monitored,” he
said. “They prevent thousands of illnesses and deaths in the U.S.
each year.”
Infants with stroke generally present with seizures, while older
infants and school age kids with stroke will have similar symptoms
to an adult, including weakness on one side of the body, Fullerton
said.
Parents may recognize these as stroke symptoms but believe children
don’t have strokes, so delay calling an ambulance, she said.
“If you ever think your child is having a stroke, call 911
(emergency services),” she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/NwhhyY Neurology, online September 30, 2015.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
