People who have a stroke while with their partner, close family or friends may be more likely to die, a study has found.
Bystanders who are closer to the patient tend to hesitate more and prefer to ‘wait and see’ before taking someone to hospital.
This dithering could leave the stroke victim’s brain starved of oxygen for longer and cause worse brain damage and raise the risk of death.
Strangers and more distant companions, however, are likely to spend less time discussing what to do and get on with seeking medical help, the research found.
People who contact a partner or close family member first when they have had a stroke are likely to take longer to arrive at hospital because people tend to dither and discuss more with people they are emotionally closer to, researchers in Boston found (stock image)
In a study led by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, scientists surveyed 175 patients who had suffered a stroke in the past five days.
They studied the social networks of the patients and found people who were later arriving to hospital – six hours or more after their stroke – had closer social circles, The Times reported.
Some 67 people arrived after six hours, while 108 arrived within six hours of their stroke – these people were likely to have larger, more disconnected social circles.
In closer groups, such as immediate families, people are more likely to create a ‘majority illusion’ convincing themselves the situation isn’t as bad.
Study author Dr Amar Dhand wrote: ‘In strongly tied, close-knit groups, information is recycled inside an “echo chamber,” and all persons overestimate the collective support for existing norms.
‘This leads to selective disclosure (e.g., not revealing symptoms immediately) and false consensus-building (e.g., agreeing to watch and wait), both of which were evident in our data.’
The majority of strokes are caused by a clot blocking the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, causing parts of the tissue to die.
Damage caused by these types of stroke can be reduced if a person gets urgent medical attention to remove the clot and restore blood flow.
However, the longer someone is left without this medical treatment and the longer the stroke goes on, the more brain damage they will suffer.
This leads to worse long-term effects and increases the risk of the patient dying.
‘Arriving rapidly to the hospital after a heart attack or stroke is critical for patients to be within time windows for treatment,’ the researchers wrote in their study.
They added: ‘Delays result in greater death rates and worse functional outcomes after cardiac and neurological emergencies.’
In 75 per cent of the people who were slow to arrive at hospital, the first person they contacted when they became ill was someone they were emotionally close to.
The scientists found their discussions ‘followed a spiraling pattern toward nonaction’.
Patients would hold back some information or play down how worried they were about it, and then might negotiate about the seriousness of it.
One told their husband they would go to see the doctor by themselves in the morning.
But the relatives were just as bad – in one scenario a patient’s husband and sister agreed numbness on one side wasn’t cause for concern because it was coming and going.
However, people who were fast to arrive at hospital only had an emotionally-close contact with them 53 per cent of the time – there were more often friends or strangers involved.
The study said: ‘Fast arrivers disclosed symptoms quickly, did not negotiate, and did not validate others’ plans.
‘For instance, coworkers, who were weak ties in one patient’s network, called 911 without discussion with the patient and said: “Something is wrong with you. You need to go to the doctor.”’
The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.