Monday is a truly hard day

The risk to have a stroke is higher on Monday and much lower on Sunday, new study suggests. This is true about strokes caused by a blockage of bloodflow to the brain and among specific demographic groups.

These findings from a World Health Organization's (WHO) study are published in a rapid access issue of the American Heart Association's journal.

A group of Finnish researchers from the National Public Health Institute of Finland leaded by Dr. Dimitrije Jacovljevic found the fewest number of strokes occurred on Sunday, while the most occurred on Monday -- 10 percent above the weekly average for men and 8.3 percent above the weekly average for women.

Among the elderly, education and wealth appeared to protect against Monday strokes. Low-income elderly men suffered strokes at 17.9 percent above the weekly average on Mondays, compared with 14.4 percent above for middle-income people.