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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday December 20 2018, @04:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the in-your-hands dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

New study reveals 'startling' risk of stroke

Globally, one in four people over age 25 is at risk for stroke during their lifetime, according to a new scientific study.

Researchers found a nearly five-fold difference in lifetime stroke risk worldwide, with the highest risk in East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, and lowest in sub-Saharan Africa. The lifetime stroke risk for 25-year-olds in 2016 ranged from 8% to 39%, depending on where they live; people in China have the highest risk.

"Our findings are startling," said Dr. Gregory Roth, Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, and senior author on the study. "It is imperative that physicians warn their patients about preventing strokes and other vascular diseases at earlier points in patients' lives. We found extremely high lifetime risk for stroke, and based on other research we evaluated, it is clear that younger adults need to think about long-term health risks. They can make a real difference by eating healthier diets, exercising regularly, and avoiding tobacco and alcohol." 

The study, "Global, Regional, and Country-Specific Lifetime Risks of Stroke, 1990-2016," was published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

[...] The burden of stroke among adults is largely dependent on modifiable risk factors and the characteristics of health systems. Therefore, the study's findings may be useful for long-term planning, especially in terms of prevention and public education.

[...] "This important paper provides reliable data on current lifetime risks across the world for different types of stroke, as well as providing countries with valuable insights into the burden of stroke," said Dr. Peter Rothwell, Head of the Centre for the Prevention of Stroke and Dementia and Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford. "These data and insights can be used to prioritize and target strategies for prevention. I hope this important work will be continued so that these trends can be mapped in future decades."


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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday December 20 2018, @05:53PM (6 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Thursday December 20 2018, @05:53PM (#776876) Journal

    Likely, #1 for most people:
    #1 Stop drinking Coffee or Substantially reduce your intake of Coffee.

    Other contenders for #1:
    Stop Smoking. (I assume most studies are for Tobacco. Not sure about Weed, but that would be interesting to know.)
    Stop drinking Alcohol.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @07:33PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @07:33PM (#776939)

    Coffee did not make this list, so not a top 8 item to worry about
    https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/8-things-you-can-do-to-prevent-a-stroke [harvard.edu]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @08:47PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @08:47PM (#776962)

      That list is for women only. Look at the url: it says explicitly that there are eight things to do, but the article only lists seven.

      Got a list for men too?

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @02:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @02:22AM (#777060)

        No, silly; no one cares if men die.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @08:45PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @08:45PM (#776961)

    wrong. number 1 is salt.
    stop adding salt to your food.

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 20 2018, @10:21PM (1 child)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday December 20 2018, @10:21PM (#776993) Journal

      And since I've been seeing some "salt isn't actually bad" claims lately:

      A large number of epidemiologic, evolutionary, and clinical studies have confirmed that salt intake is an important factor in elevating the BP in humans.

      In 1948, Kempner introduced rice diets for the treatment of hypertension. He treated 500 hypertensive patients with a diet containing 20 g of protein, little fat, and less than 0.5 g salt. It mainly consisted of rice and fruit. He showed that rice diets containing little salt improved BP, decreased heart size, reversed inverted T waves in the EKG, and ameliorated hypertensive retinopathy.

      Since then, many animal studies showed a causal relationship between dietary sodium and hypertension and in human studies, established that the average BP in the population is related to habitual salt intake13). The available data in animal studies confirm the existing relationship between habitual salt intake and BP levels. A well-documented connection between hypertension and dietary salt intake has been demonstrated in various animals, especially in rats and chimpanzees.

      Dietary Salt Intake and Hypertension [nih.gov]

      Maybe not as bad as Dr. Oz made it seem but there's significant evidence it is, indeed, bad.

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @12:03AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @12:03AM (#777020)

        Sorry, but the new discover is that higher salt lowers chronic blood pressure (probably some kind of feedback effect):
        https://app.core-apps.com/eb2017/abstract/536903b6b3303af8e0989e14822abae7 [core-apps.com]

        Salt definitely raises blood pressure in the short term though.