‘There is an option for everyone’ when it comes to stroke prevention

Physical activities of varying types, frequencies and intensities appeared to lower a person’s incidence of stroke, suggesting “that there is an option for everyone,” researchers wrote.

“Physical activity (and exercise) has long been recognized as a potential behavioral approach for preventing stroke. However, no studies have looked at the direct association between a broad range of activity-related behaviors and stroke risk,” Sherief Ghozy, MD, of the neurovascular research lab in the radiology department at the Mayo Clinic, and colleagues wrote in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.

The researchers analyzed data from 102,578 adults who completed the biannual National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey at least once between 1999 and 2018. The 3,851 respondents who experienced a stroke, compared with those who did not, tended to be older than 60 years, white, male, married, had earned a high school diploma or less and experience significantly more comorbidities.

Ghozy and colleagues reported that moderate-intensity activities at work during the last 30 days significantly lowered a person’s risk for stroke (OR = 0.8; 95% CI, 0.7-0.9). Vigorous-intensity work activities during the last 30 days (OR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.5-0.8) and muscle-strengthening exercises (OR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.5-0.8) also significantly lowered a person’s stroke risk.

In addition, walking or bicycling over the past 30 days lowered the odds of a stroke (OR = 0.8, 95% CI, 0.6-0.9), with the largest reduction observed when bicycling or walking lasted between 31 and 60 min daily (OR = 0.4, 95% CI, 0.4-0.5), according to the researchers. Performing tasks around the home over the past 30 days was also associated with a reduced odds of stroke (OR = 0.7, 95% CI, 0.6-0.9).

“This would indicate that moderate-intensity aerobic activities can reduce the likelihood of stroke by 20%, and this can be as high as 60% with a daily activity for 31 to 60 min,” the researchers wrote.

On the contrary, individuals who used a computer, watched television or played video games for more than 4 hours daily were more likely to experience a stroke (OR = 11.7; 95% CI, 2.1-219.2).

“Our study also had the novel finding that those who did a high number of muscle-strength exercises per week (> 20 hours per week) had a higher prevalence of stroke,” the researchers wrote. “This could be due to the high cortisol levels that the body releases in a state of constant stress. Therefore, the more is better recommendation should be revised to warn against strength exercises over 20 hours per week.”

A limitation to the study was its reliance on self-reported data, Ghozy and colleagues wrote.