Australian doctors declared Monday that a
cocktail of simple antihypertensive drugs can lower the risk of patients
suffering a repeat stroke by more than a third. This is the result of their
research. The research, presented at a medical conference in Italy over the
weekend, has been valued highly as a major breakthrough in stroke
prevention. Strokes kill 5 million people a year, and more than
15 million suffer non-fatal strokes that often leave them with useless limbs,
slurred speech and other serious disabilities. One in five stroke survivors goes
on to have a second, often fatal, stroke within five years of the
first. An international six-year study of 6,100 patients
directed from Sydney University found that by taking two blood pressure-lowering
drugs, the risk of secondary strokes can be reduced by up to 40 percent. Even
taking one of the commonly available drugs can cut the risk by a third, the
study said. The drugs are the diuretic indapamide (吲达帕胺)and the ACE inhibitor
perindopril, better known by its brand name Coversyl. The combination was
effective even in patients who did not have high blood pressure, the researchers
said. They even found that the risk of another stroke could be cut by three
quarters among the one-in-ten patients who had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage
(出血), the worst type of stroke, where there is direct bleeding into the
brain. Stephen McMahon, who presented the research at the Milan
congress of the European Society of Hypertension, said about 50 million people
were alive who had suffered at least one stroke. "If most of those patients were
able to get access to this treatment, it would result in maybe the avoidance of
half a million strokes a year," the professor told Australia's ABC
Radio. McMahon said doctors had long known that lowering the
blood pressure of those with hypertension could help prevent strokes. "What we
have shown for the first time is that it does not really matter what your blood
pressure is; if you have had a stroke, then lowering blood pressure will produce
large benefits, to begin with—even for people whose blood pressure is average or
below average," he said. McMahon said the Milan gathering had
heralded the research as a "major breakthrough in the care of patients with
strokes—perhaps the biggest step forward that we have made in the last couple of
decades."
单选题
How many people surviving the first stroke may suffer another attack
during the following five years?
A. More than 33% of them.
B. Up to 40% of them.
C. 20% of them.
D. 10% of them.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 由文章第二段最后一句“One in five stroke survivors goes on to have a second, often fatal, stroke within five years of the first.”可知，中风以后存活的病人中，有1/5的人在第一次中风后5年内会再次中风，而且常常是致命的。故C为正确答案。
单选题
Taking two blood pressure-lowering drugs may produce ______ less risk
of secondary stroke than taking only one such drug.
单选题
How many strokes may be reduced in a year if most of stroke patients
can be treated in the way as the article recommends?
A. 5,000,000.
B. 500,000.
C. 50,000,000.
D. 15,000,000.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 由文章第四段第二句“'If most of those patients were able to get access to this treatment, it would result in maybe the avoidance of half a million strokes a year.'”可知，如果大多数病人有机会进行这样治疗的话，每年就可以避免50万次中风的发生。故B为正确答案。
单选题
What patients among those who have a stroke will benefit greatly from
taking blood pressure-lowering drugs?