This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Healthier lifestyle reduced risk for stroke in women
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Implementing five aspects of a low-risk lifestyle reduced the odds for stroke, particularly cerebral infarction, in women, according to data from a population-based cohort study.
Susanna C. Larsson, PhD, and colleagues analyzed 31,696 women from the Swedish Mammography Cohort who completed a diet and lifestyle questionnaire and were free from CVD and cancer at baseline.
Participants were stratified based on the five points of a low-risk lifestyle: healthy diet (defined as a Recommended Food Score within the top 50%), alcohol consumption of 5 g to 15 g per day, never smoking, being physically active (defined as walking or bicycling at least 40 minutes per day and exercising at least 1 hour per week) and BMI <25 kg/m2.
The researchers identified strokes as indicated in the Swedish National Patient Register and the Swedish Cause of Death Register. Mean follow-up was 10.4 years.
Larsson, from the unit of nutritional epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and colleagues identified 1,554 cases of stroke during the study period: 1,155 cerebral infarctions, 246 hemorrhagic strokes and 153 unspecified strokes.
Healthy diet (RR=0.85; 95% CI, 0.76-0.95) and never smoking (RR=0.8; 95% CI, 0.72-0.89) were independently associated with reduced risk for any stroke, and the other three lifestyle factors were associated with a trend toward reduced risk. Healthy diet, never smoking and BMI <25 kg/m2 were each independently associated with reduced risk for cerebral infarction, and never smoking was independently associated with reduced risk for hemorrhagic stroke, Larsson and colleagues found.
The researchers also noted that risks for any stroke and for cerebral infarction specifically declined with an increasing number of low-risk lifestyle factors.
Compared with women with none of the low-risk lifestyle factors, the risk for any stroke was reduced among those with one (RR=0.77; 95% CI, 0.61-0.96), two (RR=0.76; 95% CI, 0.61-0.95), three (RR=0.65; 95% CI, 0.52-0.82), four (RR=0.6; 95% CI, 0.46-0.78) and five (RR=0.46; 95% CI, 0.27-0.78) factors, according to the researchers.
Similarly, the risk for cerebral infarction was reduced for those with one (RR=0.72; 95% CI, 0.56-0.93), two (RR=0.67; 95% CI, 0.52-0.85), three (RR=0.57; 95% CI, 0.44-0.74), four (RR=0.54; 95% CI, 0.4-0.73) and five (RR=0.38; 95% CI, 0.2-0.73) of the low-risk factors compared with those with none, Larsson and colleagues wrote.
There was no association between the number of low-risk lifestyle factors present and risk for hemorrhagic stroke, according to the researchers.
“Because the consequences of stroke are usually devastating and irreversible, prevention is of great importance,” Larsson said in a press release. “These results are exciting because they indicate that a healthy diet and lifestyle can substantially reduce the risk of stroke, and these are lifestyle choices that people can make or improve.”
Disclosure: The study was supported by research grants from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) and the Swedish Research Council. The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts