Not quite. There is indeed an e-mail going around that says it’s possible to detect a stroke by asking the victim to smile, raise both arms, and speak a simple sentence coherently. This quickie, three-question test is actually called the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale.
There was a small study presented in 2003 at a meeting of the American Stroke Association indicating that this quickie test was not bad. Volunteers asked the three questions of people who, unknown to the volunteers, had had a stroke and still had visible symptoms. The volunteers were more than 95 percent accurate in determining arm weakness and slurred speech; they were somewhat less accurate at detecting facial weakness (a crooked smile), according to the researchers, from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
But the test, while better than nothing, is troubling because of its inclusion of slurred speech as a criterion. In truth, slurred speech can be a sign not just of stroke but of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, other neurological problems, or even simple drunkenness, said Dr. Megan Leary, director of the inpatient stroke service at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The American Stroke Association does not like the test, either, because there are some warning signs it does not cover, said a spokeswoman, Bridgette McNeill. Stroke warning signs also include: sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding; sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss or balance or coordination; sudden, severe headache with no known cause.
If you know someone with these symptoms, call 911 immediately. If a stroke caused by a blood clot is treated within three hours, damage from the stroke can often be reversed. As neurologists say, “Time lost is brain lost.”