MILAN – We all know it, a hydrated body is essential for our daily wellbeing and allows us to go through the day in the best conditions. To remain hydrated, especially in certain situations, becomes even more important and can avoid unpleasant circumstances. According to a study conducted by researchers of the University of Arizona at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and published in the American portal Healthday, all the people who might suffer a stroke in conditions of poor hydration, would suffer damages 4 times as serious compared to hydrated people. Researchers have found that the effects of a cerebral infarct worsen in 42% of dehydrated patients against 17% of hydrated patients.
Effects of strokes
The effects of a stroke in dehydrated patients are far more serious because their blood is denser than that of hydrated patients. This was confirmed by one of the authors of the study, Dr. Mona Bahouth, of the neurology department of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The research, presented in February 2015, at the annual meeting of the American Stroke Association in Nashville, aimed to highlight aspects all too often underestimated. Every year more than 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of strokes occur when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood to the brain and every year almost 130,000 people die from strokes in the United States.
The study
Bahouth and his team have collected data from close to 170 people struck by ischemia and admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital over a period of nine months. About 44% of patients appeared to be dehydrated according to the study. The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to monitor the cerebral damage and tried to distinguish it from the possible effects of age and other variables. When the data was updated on the basis of a critical reconstruction, researchers found that dehydration is one of the major causes of deterioration in strokes.
by editorial staff
