New medical study reveals 20% surge in brain hemorrhages in Israel following Oct 7 attack

A new Israeli medical study revealed a dramatic 20% increase in cases of brain hemorrhage in the country since the traumatic Hamas Oct. 7 invasion and massacre in southern Israel last year.

The study, conducted by Israel’s leading medical facilities, including the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and Rambam Health Care in Haifa, analyzed the medical condition of 348 patients. It looked at the number of brain hemorrhage cases during the period between October – December 2023, and compared it to the number of cases during the same period in 2022.

The results showed a 17% increase in hemorrhage cases during the first month of the war, a jump from 40 cases to 56 cases. Furthermore, the study revealed that brain injuries among war-traumatized individuals led to a higher frequency of intensive care admissions and cases of epilepsy.

The study was led by Dr. Estelle Seyman, director of Neurology at Rambam Hospital, along with Prof. Ronen Leker of Hadassah and Dr. Naim Samaan from Ziv Hospital in Safed.

Seyman noted that many of the brain hemorrhage cases were found in individuals who had been exposed to traumatic videos of Hamas massacres and other war-related images.

"A wave of patients arrived at hospitals with brain hemorrhages after being exposed to disturbing war-related videos. Many reported that their families urged them to stop viewing such content due to its psychological toll," Seyman said.

Brain hemorrhage is a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical care. It is caused by bleeding between the brain tissue and the skull. The new Israeli study linked the dramatic rise in brain hemorrhage cases in Israel to psychological stress caused by the ongoing war against Iranian terror proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More specifically, the study attributes the dramatic rise in brain hemorrhage cases to massive behavioral changes and patterns that were registered during the first months of the war.

The study further revealed that the increase in psychological stress impacts the general population, not only individuals who were directly exposed to war-related atrocities.

"While stress from war is often associated with psychiatric conditions like anxiety or PTSD, our findings indicate that it can also have severe physical impacts, including brain hemorrhages in at-risk individuals," Leker assessed.

The results of the study will be published after being presented at the Stroke Society conference.

The ongoing war has had other negative health effects on the Israeli population.

A recent report from Israel’s National Institute for Health Policy Research shows a rise in obesity, smoking, and depression rates in Israel since last October. The report highlighted that nearly 27% of Israeli women aged 20 to 64 were classified as medically obese before the Oct. 7 attack, with the figure rising to 33.5% in the following year.