Strokes In Kids May Be Prevented By Vaccines

A new study found that children who are vaccinated regularly are less likely to suffer from a childhood stroke.

Childhood strokes are quite rear. They may appear in three to thirteen kids per 100,000, researchers say. Most of the childhood strokes are linked to genetics, as opposed to adult strokes which may be caused by unhealthy diets, smocking, and so on.

Dr. Heather Fullerton, a paediatric vascular neurologist at the University of California in San Francisco and her fellow colleagues conducted a new study and found that ischemic strokes may be triggered even by minor infections. In the case of ischemic stokes, the blood vessels located near the brain or in the brain are blocked.

In the study, the researchers looked at 354 children who had not had an ischemic stroke before, and 355 children who had had ischemic strokes. The children who were diagnosed with minor infections were six times more likely to suffer a stroke. The results of the study, that was published in the journal Neurology, showed that about 18 of the children who had a stoke also had infections.

According to Fullerton and the other researchers, the children who were vaccinated regularly were less likely to experience strokes. The other children who did not receive proper immunisation has a seven times higher risk of suffering a stoke, then the children who got most of the required vaccines.

Major infections that are caused by measles, chickenpox, and tetanus can be prevented by vaccines. Fullerton believes that vaccines may prevent the damage that inflammation and infections have on blood vessels as well.

“Often times parents and even physicians may not be aware that strokes may affect neonates, toddlers and children. Education is key,” stated Dr. José Biller, a neurologist who specializes in strokes at Loyola University Medical Centre in Chicago.

In more than 50 percent of the cases, children who experience childhood ischemic strokes are seemingly healthy, Fullerton stated. Other conditions that lead to a higher stroke risk in children are lupus, congenital heart disease, and sickle cell disease.

Vaccines may have cardiovascular benefits in the long run. In 2013, a study that was published in Journal of the American Medical Association showed that the risk of having a heart attack, or a stroke was lowered by a third in adults who got an influenza vaccine.