Recently, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, Neurology, published the results of a new study that say that with colds and other minor infections in children, the risk of ischemic stroke temporarily increases.

Stroke, which is a threat mainly to the elderly, can in fact occur at any age.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the United States for the elderly. According to the National Association of Stroke, it occurs in about 6 children per 100,000.

Minor infections and inflammatory conditions, such as the common cold, have been associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in adults. Although the origin of the stroke in children is somewhat different, it turned out that the effect of the common cold on this risk extends to them.

In an accompanying article, Dr. Lars Marquardt, a researcher at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany, writes that "since traditional risk factors for stroke in infants are rare, inflammatory diseases come first".

Until today, the relationship between inflammation and stroke in children has not been thoroughly studied, so the research team decided to study the risk of arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) in the event of minor infections in this category.

According to the authors, only a small percentage of children are born with congenital risk factors for stroke - congenital heart defects, for example. This suggests that AIS in children has many other causes, including the possible impact of the environment and the impact of infections.

12-fold risk?.

Scientists analyzed the Kaiser Pediatric Stroke Study database, which represents about 2.5 million children treated in hospitals in the state of California. In this database, 102 cases of ischemic stroke in children were identified, which were associated with infections, as well as 306 completely matching children according to the other criteria, which were selected for the control group.

Children's medical records were studied for reports of minor infections two years before the stroke. Of these records, 80% were respiratory infections. It turned out that the risk of stroke in children rises only within 3 days of the first visit to a doctor with symptoms of ARI.

Of the 102 children who developed AIS, 10 consulted the doctor less than 3 days before the event (9.8%). Scientists have calculated that respiratory infections increase the risk of ischemic stroke in children 12 times, but this effect is limited to 3 days from the time of going to the doctor.

Further research is needed.

Dr. Heather Fullerton (Heather Fullerton), one of the co-authors of the study, suggests that "minor infections are associated with a significant but short-term increase in the risk of stroke".

She says: "We observed an increased risk of stroke in infections in adult patients, but until recently we have not studied this relationship in children. Perhaps inflammatory conditions in general affect the risk of stroke in children, but further research is needed to confirm this relationship ".

The need for further research is due to some significant limitations of the latter work. Many children may simply not be brought to the doctor in case of minor respiratory infections. The retrospective nature of the study also means that the exact timing of the infection has not been accounted for.

Moreover, laboratory tests were not available that would help identify specific types of infectious agents, and there was no information about the non-prescription drugs used by parents that could also affect the outcome.

Despite all the limitations of the work, Dr. Markarth believes that "this study provides some interesting information that you need to understand".

He suggests that a relatively short period of increased risk of AIS suggests that infections have an effect on the clotting system and lead to blood clots - the causes of ischemic stroke.

Dr. Markarth emphasizes that in any case, the overall risk of stroke in children is extremely low: "Minor infections are very common in children, but strokes are, fortunately, very rare. Parents just need to be alert when their child has a cold again ".

medbe. en.