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 Arm Rehab: 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 arms? Is your independent life gone forever? It's difficult to predict to what degree someone will recover 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 in the first few weeks," she says, "can give us an indication of...
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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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