Screening 'would cut stroke deaths'
Published on 05 March 2012 01:30 PM
Health experts have called on the Government to introduce national screening programmes for people aged over 65 in order to cut the number of premature deaths caused by stroke.
The call follows a meeting of more than 120 stroke specialists from around the country convened by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) aimed at identifying ways of improving diagnosis and treatment for atrial fibrilation (AF), a heart condition which significantly increases the risk of stroke.
One of the main recommendations to come from the meeting included a national screening programme that would check the pulses of everyone aged 65 and over in GP surgeries.
Further tests would then be conducted on anyone who was found to have an irregular pulse.
Dr Scott Ramsay, consultant in stroke medicine, said: 'This is an issue of national significance and we have reached consensus that the most effective way of doing this would be for national screening programmes to be introduced throughout the UK for all people over 65 as a matter of urgency.'
Copyright Press Association 2012