Nearly five lakh people of Bangladesh suffer from stroke, 85 percent of them sustain blockage of the artery called 'infarction' while 15 percent become victims of rapture of the artery leading to 'brain haemorrhage.'

Of them, 35 percent die after 'infarction stroke' within a month while 55 percent die after brain haemorrhage, Dr Mohammad Abdul Hayee, a fellow of the New Delhi based Sir Gangaram Institute, the lone organisation of its kind in South Asia, said here yesterday.

"People suffer from stroke for at least six reasons including old age, hypertension, diabetes, paralaysis, smoking and hyper lpidemia," Dr Hayee said. People aged 45 years and above are generally vulnerable to stroke in Bangladesh, he added.

He said 'stenosis' is the disease of artery into the brain where the lumen is reduced by these six reasons, slowing the flow of blood. Ultimately the stenosed area becomes blocked by the blood clots over the stenosis area leading to stroke, he said.