Cerebral Vascular Accident

Running head: CEREBRAL VASCULAR ACCIDENT
Cerebral vascular accident
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1CEREBRAL VASCULAR ACCIDENT
A cerebral vascular accident (CVA) is a neurological disorder which is associated with
sudden disruption of blood flow to the brain. The other term for CVA is stroke and the two main
types of CVA include the ischemic stroke during which the supply of blood to the brain is
blocked and the hemorrhagic stroke during which blood vessel supplying blood to the brain
ruptures. The patients suffering from stroke experience symptoms like changes in vision, gait,
speech and hemiparesis. It leads to paralysis of parts of the body for some patients too (Nunes &
Cesar, 2018). CVA has been identified as the leading cause of disability and death in Australia
(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016). To further understand the extent of impact on
health care system, this essay aims to critically analyse the incidence, mortality and burden of
CVA in Australia and evaluate the characteristics of people who suffer from CVA in Australia.
The essay will discuss about the difference in challenges by varying socio-demographic
characteristics and level of disability in people with CVA. In addition, the paper will evaluate the
role of nurse in CVA assessment. It will give insight into three health and aged care services
available to the people living with CVA. As carers of people with CVA suffer from various
challenges, the paper will also discuss about three support services available for caregivers of the
patients diagnosed with CVA.
The burden of stroke in Australia is increasing every year. In the year 2011, stroke was
responsible for 3% of the total burden of disease in Australia. It comes under third position under
the burden of disease in people who are 85 years old. Compared to 2011, in the year 2015, an
estimated 3, 94, 000 people suffered from strokes at some point in their life. The number of CVA
events was around 100 everyday. CVA increased the overall mortality rate in Australia too. 5.2%
of all deaths in Australia in the year 2016 occurred due to stroke (AIHW, 2016). However, the
positive development is that with improvement in health care standard and treatment for CVA,

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the overall death rate has decreased by 74% between 1980 and 2016. Yearly improvement in
death rate has been found as in the year 2015, 6.8% fatalities occurred due to stroke in Australia
and 5.2% reduction in rate was found in 2016. The analysis of trends related to death in
Australian population indicates that the risk of death due to stroke is higher in older aged groups
and females. The median age at death stroke is 86.6 years (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017).
A study investigating about the impact of stroke in Australia reports that the burden of stroke lies
in the high mortality rate. The high morbidity rate is a concern too as it contributes to increase in
number survivors with chronic disability (Donkor, 2018). Thus, the above data shows that CVA
should be considered a disease with public health important and more research must be done to
evaluate and prevent its serious health, economic and social consequences.
People affected by CVA in Australia have different socio-demographic characteristics.
For example, the rate of CVA has been found to be 1.5 times higher in Aboriginal a people
compared to the non-indigenous groups (AIHW, 2016).According to Blacker and Armstrong
(2019), internationally also indigenous people experience stroke at a high rate. The risk of stroke
in this group is higher in men compared to women. However, one gap is that despite having high
incidence of stroke, the relative hospitalization rate in the group is low. Aboriginal stroke
patients are less likely to get admitted in a stroke unit due to several barriers to access of health
services such as poor availability of services in rural and remotes areas and long distance travel.
For this reason, the hospitalization rate is higher for people in remote and very remote areas
compared with major cities (AIHW, 2016). Thus, rate of stroke is higher in indigenous group and
people living remote areas compared to non-indigenous group.
Furthermore, people living in lowest socio-economical areas have highest impact of
stroke compared to those in the lowest socioeconomic areas. This group of people have severe

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deficits and they are less likely to receive evidenced based stroke services. Straney et al. (2016)
explored the impact of socio-demographic characteristics on incidence of CVA and indicated
that population over 65 years, socioeconomic status, smoking prevalence and educational level
were important predictors of incidence in Australia. Thus, the above data shows that care of
elderly group, people living remote areas and low socioeconomic areas and indigenous
Australians must be prioritized to prevent and control stroke in Australia.
The incidence of CVA or stroke is a major health issue in Australia as it is the cause
behind various disabilities in the patients. The problem found in 65% of stroke survivors across
the world is that that they suffer from any one disability that affects their ability to engage in
activities of daily living. A comparative study by Donkor (2018) investigating about stroke
survivors in various countries has revealed that stroke survivors are mostly challenged by
ongoing physical disability. The common complaints among the patients who recovered were
that they lost their usual hand function and ability to take part in daily activities. Such kind of
disability is a concern not only for the affected patient; instead it is a burden for family members
too. A study investigating disability rate five years post stroke has revealed that many patients
suffer from depression due to recurrent and chronic pattern of stroke. Elderly people, individuals
with most severe stroke and those with previous history of stroke and recurrences are at higher
risk of long-term disability. The common issue for the patient having a history of stroke includes
gait impairment and impaired motor functions due to brain lesion. The risk for disability differs
based on education level as educated patients have lesser stigma and they are more likely to
adhere to all the medications compared to the non-educated patients (Yang et al., 2016). This
suggests the need for high quality care and rehabilitation immediately after stroke to reduce the
disability burden. How far Australia has access to ongoing rehabilitation based support can