CMC Starts a Nationwide study on Preventing Recurrent Stroke with Help of Health Education

Ludhiana, April 26, 2018: The CMC hospital Ludhiana has initiated an Indian Stroke Clinical trial network. This network will work with Indian Council of Medical Research (Government of India) to develop research projects for Indian problems in Stroke patients which will directly improve the quality of life in patients suffering from Stroke. The main focus is to develop low-cost or no-cost solutions to reduce the overall cost burden on our patients.
Sprint India study (Secondary Prevention By Structured Semi-Interactive Stroke Prevention Package in India) is the first study under this network which has been initiated from Ludhiana CMC, Hospital. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. 80% of stroke are preventable. However lack of knowledge that stroke and cardiovascular diseases are preventable is major hurdle to reduce the incidence of recurrent stroke and cardiovascular morbidity. This is further compounded by the non-compliance to medications and lack of exercise.
The Stroke incidence in India ranges from 135 to 145 per 100,000 population. From the recent Ludhiana population based Stroke registry, 25% of the patients are below 49 years of age. Hypertension, smoking, alcohol, diabetes, heart disease and lifestyle related problems are the common causes of stroke in India. India has a population of 1.3 billion out of which 14 Lakh people will suffer stroke in India in a year. Out of this 14 Lakh population, 20% will again have a recurrent stroke within 1 year of suffering the first stroke that is approximately 3 lakh people. This risk is 15 times more than in the general population. Recurrent stroke makes a person more physically and mentally disabled.
The incidence of recurrent stroke has significantly reduced to 4% in the Developed countries. The main reason being good adherence to medications and better awareness of the stroke risk factors.Stroke awareness has proven to be useful in improving early arrival of stroke patients to emergency thus increasing the thrombolysis rates. Early stroke prevention education using print and audio-visual media may be useful. The importance of Medical literacy and Health Education may make a difference in the recurrent stroke rate in India.
The SPRINT India study aims to check how increasing the awareness about the risk factors and adherence to medication will bring down the recurrent stroke rate in India. The study will be carried out in 27 centres across the country. The study will be coordinated from CMC, Ludhiana under the leadership of Dr. Jeyaraj Pandian, Principal and Professor of Neurology and Dr. Mahesh Kate, HOD Neurology department.This study will go on for 5 years and will recruit approximately 6000 patients all over India. The study team hope this may help Indian patients without any added cost to them.