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Background: Among the primary environmental issues affecting global health, air pollution is considered the leading cause of concern. Globally, around 800,000 deaths were attributed to air pollution according to WHO. Evidence suggests that there has been a strong association of air pollution with stroke. Approximately, 25% of stroke mortality was due to air pollution according to a study in 2013. Objective: The aim of this review was to analyze the association between stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage and air pollution and its burden globally with a special focus on South Asia along with its association with the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: There is growing research data linking air pollution to cardiovascular disorders including stroke. Short-term and long-term air pollution exposures have been shown to increase stroke incidence in epidemiological data. Air pollution, both gaseous and particle, show a strong and tight temporal relationship with stroke hospitalizations and death. The link between ICH and SAH to air pollution is less strong and less well studied as compared to ischemic stroke. Stroke and air pollution both are highly prevalent in South Asia. It is possible that the high prevalence of stroke in south Asia may be linked to the high frequency of air pollution in addition to other conventional risk factors. Decreased stroke admissions and mortality and reduced cardiovascular mortality reported during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) lockdown may be attributable to decreased levels of air pollution. Conclusion: Even though air pollution poses a significant threat to human health, a great number of countries still fail to achieve internationally agreed air quality standards. Air pollution should be recognized among the most significant controllable risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease prevention and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: A limited number of studies on long-term effects of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 µm (PM2 5) on health suggest it can be an important cause of morbidity and mortality. In Asia where air quality is poor and deteriorating, local data on long-term effects of PM2.5 to support policy on air quality management are scarce. OBJECTIVES: We assessed long-term effects of PM2.5 on the mortality in a single Asian city. METHODS: For 10-13 years, we followed up a cohort of 66,820 participants ≥ 65 years of age who were enrolled and interviewed in all 18 Elderly Health Centres of the Department of Health, Hong Kong, in 1998-2001. Their residential addresses were geocoded into x- and y-coordinates, and their proxy exposures to PM2.5 at their addresses in 1 x 1 km grids were estimated from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite data. We used Cox regression models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) of mortality associated with PM2.5. RESULTS: Mortality HRs per 10-µg/m³ increase in PM2.5 were 1.14 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.22) for all natural causes, 1.22 (95% CI: 1.08, 1.39) for cardiovascular causes, 1.42 (95% CI: 1.16, 1.73) for ischemic heart disease, 1.24 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.53) for cerebrovascular disease, and 1.05 (95% CI: 0.90, 1.22) for respiratory causes. CONCLUSIONS: Our methods in using NASA satellite data provide a readily accessible and affordable approach to estimation of a sufficient range of individual PM2.5 exposures in a single city. This approach can expand the capacity to conduct environmental accountability studies in areas with few measurements of fine particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: If the present data defining the prognostic predictors is examined carefully, a serious contradiction is noticed. In this study, we tried to determine which factors affect the sixth month mortality, recurrence and functional recovery measured quantitatively after ischemic stroke, among our own patients followed in a tertiary health care center. Patients and Methods: Age, sex, the presence of hypertension, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, previous stroke, stroke subtype, admittance mean blood pressure, admittance blood sugar, hemotocrit, the presence of left ventricle hypertrophy and ejection fraction was recorded for 223 patients with ischemic stroke. The scores for National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel Index (BI) were recorded at the beginning and at the end of six months. The correlation of these 14 clinical and laboratory parameters with mortality, recurrence and recovery was examined statistically. Results: Mortality rate was 33%, recurrence rate was 3.8%. Factors related with mortality were age, female gender, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, low ejection fraction, low hematocrit and high admittance blood glucose (p< 0.05). Mortality was significantly low among patients with hyperlipidemia (p< 0.05). There was no statistically significant correlation between stroke recurrence and any of parameters investigated (p> 0.05). In the multivariate analyses, only, the effect of age, gender and hyperlipidemia on mortality was persisting (p< 0.05). Considering NIHSS, patients with high mean admittance blood pressure, considering mRS and BI younger patients and patients with lacunar infarcts had better recovery levels, while patients with previous strokes had poorer recovery (p< 0.05). Conclusion: Higher age and high admittance blood sugar were the most important determinants of mortality after ischemic stroke. Hyperlipidemia reduces the risk of death after stroke probably because of the neuroprotective effects of lipid lowering drugs. None of these parameters clearly affect functional recovery at the end of six month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral vascular disease (CVD) encompasses a set of clinical disorders due to the insufficient supply of blood to the brain. There are several risk factors which we can classify as modifiable and not modifiable. Representing as well one of the main problems of public health in all industrialized countries. In Mexico the EVC occupies 6th place as cause of death. Objective: To determine the incidence and risk factors of CVD in patients in the service of medicine internal General Hospital the Pearl in January of 2009 to March 2011. To know the prevalence in terms of gender, age and risk factors associated with the type of CVD. In addition to establishing the percentage of deaths in the total population in study. Methodology: It's a retrospective and observational study of revenues in the service of the institution to study internal medicine. Results: A total of 147 records, leaving a total of 80 for the study inclusion criteria were reviewed. Conclusions: the primary prevention of the CVD method is more secure and economical to improve the quality of life of our patients that due to its high incidence and prevalence represented a significant human and economic cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]