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Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Shabu causes stroke: expert (7:17 p.m.)
MANILA -- The use of illegal drugs is slowly becoming the cause of stroke among Filipinos, the Stroke Society of the Philippines (SSP) said.
SSP vice president Jose Navarro said "shabu" or methampethamine hydrochloride can be a reason of stroke as its substance can initiate inflammation of arteries in the brain.
"Shabu is becoming an emerging risk factor for hypertension. We are seeing patients developing bleeding in the brain," she said.
A survey by the Dangerous Drugs Board in 2004 showed that 6.7 million Filipinos are using illegal drugs including shabu, the so-called poor man's cocaine.
Five hundred out of every 100,000 Filipinos are developing stroke every year with 4.5 percent of those patients coming from those aged 50 years old and above.
The World Health Organization (WHO) places the global burden of stroke at 16 million for those who had it once and 62 million stroke survivors. (FP/Sunnex)
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