With strokes or brain attacks on the rise in India, an expert Sunday stressed on the monitoring of high blood pressure – a prime cause of such attacks and called for them to be taken as seriously as heart attacks.

 

Hypertension (HTN) or high blood pressure is the leading cause of strokes where a clot in a blood vessel in the brain restricts the flow of blood to a part of the brain. It could also happen when a blood vessel breaks interrupting blood flow.

 

 "The fact of the matter is that HTN control is not well done here (India) and it should be regularly monitored to prevent strokes. Brain attack is as serious as heart attack and attention should be given to this issue," said neurologist T.K. Banerjee, working at Peerless Hospital and B.K.Roy Research Centre here.

 

 Banerjee was speaking at the "Medicon International 2013" organised here by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in collaboration with the Peerless Hospital and the centre.

 

Other causes of brain strokes include smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia (high levels of cholesterol in blood) and central obesity or belly fat.

 

 Banerjee pointed out that south Asians have higher prevalence of the causative factors in comparison to Caucasians.

 

 "Over time strokes have increased exponentially in India," he added.