Now, among the modifiable factors, where you can actually do something now if you
have this risk factor, to reduce your risk of stroke in the future, include.
High blood pressure being the most significant relative risk.
If you smoke cigarettes, you double your risk of stroke.
If you have certain heart diseases, like atrial fibrillation, which we'll
talk about, there can be a 6-fold elevation in stroke risk.
If you've had a prior TIA, which we'll talk about.
That's the harbinger of a stroke to come.
That actually, if we intervene rapidly in TIA
patients, we can prevent a stroke to follow.
Carotid disease.
Disease of the internal carotid artery bifurcation, due to
atherosclerosis, can lead to embolic occlusions of brain vessels.
Causing stroke, and if you fix that carotid disease before
it causes stroke or typically following TIA, you can
prevent a stroke to happen. High serum lipids, hy,
hypercholesterolemia, does raise stroke risk, but look at the difference between
how much stroke risk is increased by Hypertension as compared
with hyperlipidemia so a stroke is primarily
a disease of hypertension and therefore quite preventable.
Alcohol has a minor risk factor.
Too much alcohol appears to increase your risk of interceral hemorrhage and no
alcohol at all has been correlated with an increased risk of Ischemic stroke.
We're not quite sure if there's a cause
and an effect there but patients that do not
drink alcohol at all have a slightly higher
risk of stroke compared to those who drink mildly.