Leading Experts Call for Urgent Action to Avoid Stroke Crisis Across Asia-Pacific Region

Experts from medical and patient communities call on national policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region to take urgent action against preventable strokes that strike millions of people with atrial fibrillation (AF) each year

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 6, 2011 - According to a new report, How Can We Avoid a
Stroke Crisis in the Asia-Pacific Region?, urgent coordinated action is
needed to avoid millions of preventable strokes, which leave many patients
who have atrial fibrillation (AF) both mentally and physically disabled, or
dead, every year.

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The report, launched today during the 18th Asian Pacific Congress of
Cardiology (APCC) by Action for Stroke Prevention, a group of health experts
from across the globe, proposes urgent measures to prevent stroke in
Asia-Pacific patients with AF, the most common, sustained abnormal heart
rhythm and a major cause of stroke.(2) The report's recommendations are
endorsed by 32 leading Asia-Pacific and other global medical societies and
patient organizations, reinforcing and recognizing the need for a call to
action.

A stroke epidemic across the Asia-Pacific region, and indeed the rest of
the world, is imminent if actions are not taken now to slow the rising tide
of preventable strokes occurring every year. Dr. Sim Kui Hian, Head,
Department of Cardiology and Head, Clinical Research Centre, Sarawak General
Hospital, Malaysia, commented, "The incidence of stroke across the
Asia-Pacific region is continuing to grow and constitutes both a major public
health issue and a significant economic burden. Members of Action for Stroke
Prevention have come together to highlight the risk of a stroke crisis and
urge policymakers, national governments, healthcare professionals, patient
groups and medical societies to act together now to prevent the devastating
impact stroke has on people, their families and carers."

Recommendations made by the Report include:

- Improving awareness of the impact of AF and AF-related stroke

- Developing methods for early and adequate diagnosis of AF and stroke
risk assessment

- Taking new and better approaches to prevent stroke in patients with AF

- Facilitating the exchange of best practice between national governments
in the Asia-Pacific region

- Developing strategies to support adherence to guidelines

- Providing equal and adequate administration of therapy for patients
with AF across countries in the Asia-Pacific region

- Advancing research into the causes, prevention and management of AF,
and addressing the current paucity of epidemiological information available
in Asia-Pacific

Strokes are preventable - prevent them

"With the majority of AF-related strokes being preventable, we believe
that implementation of these recommendations now will contribute to the
prevention of stroke in patients with AF and, in turn, reduce the
dramatically increasing clinical, economic, and social burden of stroke in
Asia-Pacific," said Professor Gregory Lip, Professor of Cardiovascular
Medicine, University of Birmingham Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, City
Hospital, Birmingham, UK.

Every year, 15 million people worldwide experience a stroke.(12)
Approximately five million of these suffer permanent disabilities and over
five million more die, accounting for 10 percent of all deaths
worldwide.(12-14)

In the Asia-Pacific region in 2004, the approximate number of patients
who had survived a stroke at some point in their lifetime was 4.4 million in
Southeast Asia and 9.1 million in the Western Pacific region.(14) In the same
year, the number of first-ever strokes was 5.1 million across these
regions.(15) This was higher than the estimated number of new cases of
cancer.(15)

People who suffer a stroke caused by AF are more likely to remain in the
hospital longer, are less likely to be discharged home, and are 50 percent
more likely to remain disabled(16,17) than patients who have a stroke
unrelated to AF. An increasing number of people in the Asia-Pacific region
are living with AF. In China alone, up to eight million people suffer from
AF.(18,19)

"Every year millions of people with AF who suffer a stroke are left
disabled, regardless of their age," said Trudie Lobban, Founder and Trustee,
Arrhythmia Alliance, and Co-founder and CEO, Atrial Fibrillation Association.
"If we do not suffer with AF ourselves, we will almost certainly care for or
know someone who does. It is imperative that we all act together to improve
the diagnosis and management of AF if we are to prevent the enormous
life-changing consequences that stroke has for patients and carers."

The current economic burden of strokes on national economies in
Asia-Pacific is significant. For example, China will lose $558 billion in
national income due to the combined consequences of heart disease, stroke,
and diabetes.(20)

More significantly, the impact of stroke is predicted to rise
dramatically as the number of individuals affected by AF is expected to
increase due to an ageing population and improved survival of patients with
conditions which predispose AF (e.g., heart attack).

Action for Stroke Prevention is supported by an educational grant from
Bayer HealthCare. The report, and all related materials, has been determined
by the authors independently of Bayer HealthCare.

References

1. Liu LS, Caguioa ES, Park CG et al. Reducing stroke risk in
hypertensive patients: Asian Consensus Conference recommendations. Int J
Stroke 2006;1:150-7

2. Kannel WB, Benjamin EJ et al. Prevalence, incidence, prognosis, and
predisposing conditions for atrial fibrillation: population-based estimates.
Am J Cardiol 1998;82:457-507

3. Wolf PA, Abbott RD, Kannel WB. Atrial fibrillation as an independent
risk factor for stroke: the Framingham Study. Stroke 1991;22:983-8

4. American College of Cardiology. CardioSmart. Atrial fibrillation. 2010

5. Marini C, De Santis F, Sacco S et al. Contribution of atrial
fibrillation to incidence and outcome of ischemic stroke: results from a
population based study. Stroke 2005;36:1115-19

6. Wolfe CD. The impact of stroke. Br Med Bull 2000;56:275-86

7. White CL, Poissant L, Cote-LeBlanc G et al. Long-term caregiving after
stroke: the impact on caregivers' quality of life. J Neurosci Nurs.
2006;38:354-60

8. Wei et al. Variations and determinants of hospital costs for acute
stroke in China. PLoS One 2010;28; 5(9):e13041.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013041

9. Go AS, Hylek EM, Phillips KA et al. Prevalence of diagnosed atrial
fibrillation in adults: national implications for rhythm management

10. Murphy NF, Simpson CR, Jhund PS et al. A national survey of the
prevalence, incidence, primary care burden and treatment of atrial
fibrillation in Scotland. Heart 2007;93:606-12

12. Wolfe C, Rudd A. The Burden of Stroke White Paper: Raising awareness
of the global toll of stroke-related disability and death, 2007.
www.safestroke.org/Portals/10/FINAL%20Burden%20of%20Stroke.pdf.
Accessed March 2011

13. World Health Organization. The Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke.
2004 www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/resources/atlas/en/. Accessed
March 2011

14. World Health Organization. The global burden of disease: 2004 update.
Disease and injury regional estimates for 2004. Prevalence for WHO regions.
2008. www.who.int/entity/healthinfo/
global_burden_disease/PREV6%202004.xls. Accessed March 2011

15. World Health Organization. The global burden of disease: 2004 update.
2008www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GBD_
report_2004update_full.pdf. Accessed March 2011

16. Lamassa M, Di Carlo A, Pracucci G et al. Characteristics, outcome,
and care of stroke associated with atrial fibrillation in Europe: data from a
multicenter multinational hospital based registry (The European Community
Stroke Project). Stroke 2001;32:392-8

17. Jørgensen HS, Nakayama H, Reith J et al. Acute stroke with atrial
fibrillation. The Copenhagen Stroke Study. Stroke 1996;27:1765-9

18. Zhou Z, Hu D. An epidemiological study on the prevalence of atrial
fibrillation in the Chinese population of mainland China. J Epidermiol
2008;18:209-16

19. Hu D, Sun Y. Epidemiology, risk factors for stroke, and management of
atrial fibrillation in China. JACC 2008;52:865-8

20. World Health Organization. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs): Fact sheet
No 317. 2011 www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs317/en/index.html.
Accessed March 2011

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Contacts: Linda Rose, Email: l.rose at togorun.net, Tel: +44-(0)20-7281-3061. Erika Aalto, Email: e.aalto at togorun.net, Tel: +44-(0)20-7554-1708. Melissa Gonzalez, Email: m.gonzalez at togorun.net, Tel: +1-(212)-453-2047