Four Changes to Make to Avoid a Stroke

If you know anyone over 40 who still smokes, drinks too much, doesn’t exercise, and is a fast-food addict, you may want to draw their attention to a new calculation of the risk of having a stroke. It’s been published in the British Medical Journal.

The population studied consisted of 20,000 adults over 40 living in the general community in Norfolk, UK. They had no known stroke or heart attack history at baseline, in 1993 to 1997. They were followed up until 2007, an average of 11.5 years. They were scored on how many of the following ‘positive’ factors they possessed: currently non-smoking, physically active, moderate alcohol intake (less than 14 drinks a week), and eating 4-5 fruit or vegetables servings daily.

There were 599 strokes among the participants during the 230,000-odd person-years of follow-up. Compared with people with all 4 healthy behaviors, the relative risk for stroke in men and women was 1.15 for 3, 1.58 for 2, 2.18 for 1, and 2.31 for no healthy behaviors. In other words, the smoker, drinker, couch potato, french-fries eater runs more than twice the risk of having a stroke than the 4-healthy-behaviors person. Show this to your friend or family member who may be at higher risk.