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Risk
Factors
Modifiable
risk factors:
Stroke
register:
Experience from the eastern province of Saudi
Arabia
-
Population
of 750,000 inhabitants (545,000
Saudi citizens)
-
The
crude incidence rate for first-ever strokes was 29.8/100,000/year.
When standardized to the 1976 US population, it
rose up to 125.8/100,000/year.
-
Systemic
hypertension (38%)
-
Diabetes
mellitus (37%)
-
Heart
disease (27%)
-
Smoking
(19 %)
-
Family
history of stroke (14%)
-
Previous
transient ischemic attacks (3%)
-
Carotid
bruits (1%)
al-Rajeh S.
King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Reducing Your Risk of
Stroke
May 15, 2001 - - The National
Institute of Health has just revised the federal cholesterol
guidelines for the first time since 1993. As a leading cause of heart disease which can lead
to stroke, high cholesterol is a controllable condition through
diet, exercise and, in some cases, medications.
As an arm of the NIH, the National Heart, Lung
and Blood Institute has launched a National Cholesterol Education
Program aimed at reducing the number of Americans that have high
cholesterol. Please visit some of the federally-sponsored
sites listed below to learn more about managing your
cholesterol.
Certain medical conditions greatly increase your
likelihood of having a stroke (or another stroke).
Working with your doctor, you may need to begin specific
medical treatment to control these risks:
-
Previous stroke or "mini-stroke" (transient ischemic
attack, TIA).
Depending on the most likely cause of your
stroke, your doctor may prescribe specific medication or
consider surgery to remove fatty deposits in your carotid
artery.
-
High blood pressure.
Hypertension is one of the
leading risks for heart disease and stroke. Your physician
may advise dietary or lifestyle changes, or specific medications
to lower your blood pressure.
-
Diabetes.
High blood sugar can increase your
risk, so you should work closely with your doctor to manage
it.
(Learn
more about diabetes from the AHA.)
-
Heart disease.
Particularly heart beat
irregularities (atrial fibrillation), disease of the heart
valves, congestive heart failure, or recent heart attack.
If you have one of these conditions, your physician may
prescribe medications to thin your blood and/or reduce your
cholesterol level.
> Advice on lowering
your cholesterol is available at the AHA.
> Take an online
heart attack risk assessment at the National Institute of
Health.
Other risk factors for stroke can be controlled
by life style choices you make:
-
Smoking.
Tobacco use is a major preventable
risk factor for stroke and heart disease. Even if you have
smoked for years, you can still reduce your risk by quitting
now.
(Click here
for information on how to quit smoking.)
-
Obesity, elevated cholesterol, and elevated
lipids.
Reduce your dietary intake of saturated fats and
cholesterol.
Chick your weight at this site.
-
Physical inactivity.
Learn the importance
of exercise from the AHA.
-
Excessive alcohol intake.
-
Illegal drug use.
There are some risk factors you can't
control:
-
Increasing age.
Stroke is more common in people
over 60.
-
Male sex.
Men and women both have strokes,
although stroke is more common at younger ages in men.
-
Heredity and Race.
Stroke is more common in
people whose close relatives have had stroke at an early
age. African-Americans and Hispanic Americans are at
higher risk than white Americans. This may be due in part
to high blood pressure and dietary differences.
See Also:
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