World Stroke Day 2024

World Stroke Day was established by The World Stroke Organization nearly 20 years ago to reinforce how significantly important it is to increase awareness and information about this life-altering and threatening condition.

Stroke can occur from either:

  • Bleeding or a burst blood vessel in the brain
  • A blocked artery or blood clot - ischaemic stroke - the most common type (»87%).

Blocked arteries or blood vessels with restricted blood flow commonly result from a build-up of fatty deposits or clots from debris which has travelled through the blood stream. These usually come from the heart and imbed themselves in the brain’s blood vessels.
What happens to the brain after a stroke?

For each hour a person experiences an ischaemic stroke, this is what is lost:

  • 120 million neurons (nerve cells which send and receive signals).
  • 830 billion synapses (junction where neurons communicate with each other).
  • 714km of myelinated fibres (nerve fibres wrapped in a myelin sheath which insulates the fibre and improves electrical signals).

Damage starts immediately - 1.9 million neurons, 14 billion synapses, 12km of myelinated fibres are destroyed every minute!

Thrombosis and stroke

Ischaemic obstruction produces two types of conditions – thrombotic and embolic stroke.

  • Thrombotic stroke develops when there is a build-up of plaque which constricts blood flow (usually due to atherosclerosis) and narrows the vascular chamber creating a blood clot.
  • Embolic stroke occurs when there is a reduction in blood flow to the brain resulting in an embolism; instigating serious stress and eventually the death of brain cells.

Another term associated with these types of stroke is cerebral arteriosclerosis, which is a disease where the arteries in the brain  become hard, thick and narrow due to the fatty deposits within the artery walls.

If you would like additional information about atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, please visit the Thrombosis Australia webpage on CVD and thrombosis.

Research published in October 2024 also found that coffee intake presented with an increased risk of stroke. The study found that participants who consumed >4 cups of coffee daily had higher odds of all stroke and ischaemic stroke. Smyth, A. et al., (2024). Tea and coffee consumption and risk of acute stroke: The INTERSTROKE Study. International Journal of Stroke, 19(9), 1053–1063. https://doi.org/10.1177/17474930241264685

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