What Increases Your Risk
Risk factors for stroke include those you can treat or change and those you can't change.
Risk factors you can treat or change:
Stroke Recovery and Rehab: 10 Important Questions
After a stroke, you probably have a lot of questions and concerns about how -- and even if -- you will recover. When will you be able to move your affected limbs? Will you ever be able to speak clearly? Is your independent life gone forever? "It's difficult to predict precisely how much function a patient will regain after a stroke," says Randie M. Black-Schaffer, MD. Schaffer is medical director of the Stroke Program at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. "How quickly a patient recovers...
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- High blood pressure (hypertension).
- Atrial fibrillation.
- Diabetes.
- Smoking.
- High cholesterol.
- Heavy use of alcohol.
- Being overweight.
- Physical inactivity.
Risk factors you cannot change include:
- Age. The risk of stroke increases with age.
- Race. African Americans, Native Americans, and Alaskan Natives have a higher risk than those of other races.
- Gender. Stroke is more common in men than women until age 75, when more women than men have strokes. Because women live longer than men, more women have strokes each year.
- Family history. The risk for stroke is greater if a parent, brother, or sister has had a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).
- History of stroke or TIA.
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