The ten risk factors that could lead you to suffer a stroke
A pot belly and a lack of exercise are two of the 10 risk factors that account for 90% of stroke cases (posed by model)
Just ten lifestyle choices and medical conditions account for 90 per cent of stroke cases, doctors say.
The newly identified checklist includes smoking, a pot belly and lack of exercise, the researchers found. Others include diabetes, high blood pressure and drinking too much.
The ten factors were identified by researchers after they compared the lifestyle of 3,000 stroke patients with a ‘control’ group of 3,000 healthy people.
Most of the risk factors mirror those linked to heart attacks, the Canadian researchers report in the journal The Lancet.
Around 150,000 people have a stroke in Britain every year. Around a third of these patients die, a third recover, and a third are left with a serious disability.
The new study identified five lifestyle factors that account for 80 per cent of cases – high blood pressure, smoking, a fat stomach, poor diet and lack of exercise.
When the researchers added another five factors - diabetes, excess alcohol, stress and depression, heart disorders and the presence of blood fat molecules called apolipoproteins – they could account for 90 per cent of all the risk factors for stroke.
Dr Martin O’Donnell, from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and colleagues said: ‘Our findings suggest that ten risk factors are associated with 90 per cent of the risk of stroke.
‘Targeted interventions that reduce blood pressure and smoking, and promote physical activity and healthy diet, could substantially reduce the burden of stroke.’
Strokes kill 67,000 deaths in the UK each year, making it the third most common cause of death after heart disease and cancer. More than 300,000 Britons are living with a disability caused by stroke.
Top 10 causes of strokes
* High blood pressure
* Smoking
* Fat stomach
* Poor diet
* Lack of exercise
* Diabetes
* Excess alcohol
* Stress and depression
* Heart disorders
* Blood fat molecules present
Strokes occur when the brain is starved of oxygen. The most common type is an ischaemic stroke which usually happens when a clot blocks an artery supplying the brain.
Strokes can also occur when a blood vessel bursts, causing bleeding in the brain.
Of all the factors, high blood pressure was by far the most important, accounting for a third of all stroke risk, the study found.
People who had a history of high blood pressure were more than two and a half times more likely to suffer a stroke than those who did not.
Smoking was another major hazard, the study found, and associated with one in five strokes. Smokers had double the stroke risk of non-smokers.
Andrea Lane, from The Stroke Association, said: ‘Over the years there have been a number of research studies into the causes of stroke, which have identified a number of major risk factors.
‘This is an extensive and in-depth study and so it’s great to see that the findings support previous research and reflect the preventative advice provided by The Stroke Association.
‘The study is interesting as it looks at the major risk factors for stroke worldwide, including low and middle income countries. We look forward to seeing the results from the second phase of the research.’
The findings come from Interstroke – an international study covering 22 countries and 24,000 patients.
Dr Jack Tu, from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences at the University of Toronto in Canada, said: ‘Whilst hypertension (high blood pressure) is well established as the most important cause of stroke in high-income countries, Interstroke confirms that it is also the most important risk factor for stroke in developing countries.
‘This finding is particularly relevant because it highlights the need for health authorities in these regions to develop strategies to screen the general population for high blood pressure, and, if necessary, offer affordable treatment.
‘It also provides an impetus to develop population-wide strategies to reduce the salt content in the diet of individuals in these countries.’