150 thousand new cases of stroke

L & # 39;stroke in Italy there are 150,000 new cases each year and the number of people living in Italy with a disability due to this disease is now close to one million. But how many chances is a person affected by cerebral lesion – brain-damage go back to work? What are the moments and the main obstacles to your professional reintegration? There is a significant gap in the occupational reintegration of those affected by stroke: in the case of serious brain injury, 20% of workers return to work during the year, whereas in the case of a mild or moderate brain injury, it reaches 71.9%. The experts gathered at the "Stroke, Risk and Prevention and Rehabilitation" conference organized by the Santa Lucia Irccs Foundation and Inail at the Foundation's congress center in Rome.
Stefano Paolucci, director of the Santa Lucia Neurorehabilitation Unit, presented the figures of the phenomenon by comparing the results of more than 50 scientific studies conducted worldwide over the last ten years. clarity despite a partial variability of the data collected in the different samples observed. "Among the most relevant – observes Paolucci – there are cognitive impairments, first and foremost the attention deficit and the loss of language use caused by aphasia, ie the deficits generally present in cases of stroke with significant brain injury. Depression also affects, another phenomenon typical of this type of patients, but not so decisive".
The chances of return to work are three times greater for professionals with higher levels of education and more intellectual work compared to people in manual jobs, according to the results of a study conducted by the Harvard among others. Medical School. and Yale Medical School.
Experts believe that data on gender differences should be viewed with caution as they are strongly influenced by the cultural and regulatory context from one country to another. However, a study conducted in 2016 in South Korea (out of 933 cases of stroke) would reveal 65.2% of men under 48 years of age against 48.3% of women find a job.
But how to prevent, even at work, the appearance of a cerebrovascular accident? "It can not be simplified because many additional work-related health and lifestyle factors can lead to strokes. – explained in his speech Carlo Serrati, director of the neurology unit of the hospital San Martino Irccs of Genoa – However, in the workplace, a risk factor is certainly stress, understood not in a generic way, but in its strictly medical sense. Here, the most exposed people are those in high-demand, low-level jobs. They are people exposed to many requests without possibility of deciding and choosing what can or can not be done".
The world of work is evolving over the next twenty years: as sociologist Domenico De Masi has said, it is destined to become more and more intellectual and less physical, more and more unstructured at times and times. places, and increasingly linked to personal motivation and creativity. in terms of success and productivity. "The thread of today's day is the theme of the work – concluded the ICRC Director General in Santa Lucia, Edoardo Alesse – On the one hand, the constant commitment of doctors and researchers who work daily in our hospitals to reach new goals in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. neurological. Then there is the theme of patients' return to work, which is fundamental to restoring their independence and quality of life.".