Brain stroke on rise among aged population

SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- The number of people suffering from cerebral infarction, a type of stroke caused by disturbance in blood vessels supplying blood to the brain, is rising among the aged population in South Korea, a report showed Wednesday.
The number of cerebral infarction patients rose by an annual average of 4.2 percent from 2006 to some 437,000 last year, according to a report from the National Health Insurance Corp.
The ailment was common in both men and women as 907 males and 883 females out of every 100,000 people suffered the illness in 2010.
The increase was largely led by patients aged over 80 years as the number of patients per 100,000 people aged between 20 and 60 years decreased from a year earlier, according to the report.
"An increase in the overall number of cerebral infarction patients is inevitable in an aging society," said Lee Joon-hong, a doctor and professor of neurology from a hospital run by the national insurance corp.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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