A new study has confirmed that 10 risk factors of stroke identified across the world earlier this year account for 9 in 10 strokes, albeit differently. Addressing hypertension, the new study finds, could cut risk of stroke by half.
Though risk factors for stroke were identified earlier, it is a commonly held belief that little can be done to lower it significantly. The new study published in the journal The Lancet analyzes risk factor identification by the INTERSTROKE study that collected data from 20,000 subjects in 32 countries across the world. The Lancet study informs that modifying hypertension as a risk factor cuts risk of stroke by 48 % while recommended amounts of physical activity can lower risk by over a third.
"Our findings will inform the development of global population-level interventions to reduce stroke, and how such programs may be tailored to individual regions," said Dr. Salim Yusuf of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster, who led the study. "This includes better health education, more affordable healthy food, avoidance of tobacco and more affordable medication for hypertension and dyslipidaemia."
To determine stroke risk associated with individual factors, researchers estimated the disease burden if one of the factors were completely eliminated. Called Population Attributable Risk Factor or PAR, the estimation exercise also revealed improved diet can lower risk by 19 % while smoking could decrease it further by 9 %. Stress accounted for 6 % of the risk and lipids 27 %.
Findings are crucial to health policy makers around the world for they show variance in risk presented by individual factors. For instance, the study showed hypertension was found to be more important as a risk factor in Southeast Asia than in Europe, America and Australia while lack of physical activity was shown to have the greatest impact in China. Cumulative importance and risk associated with all factors added up to similar importance across the study region. That modifying these risk factors could lower stroke risk by 90 %, is the most important takeaway from the study.
