High blood pressure and diabetes are widely recognized as major risk factors for stroke. However, a new study, published in Neurology — the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology — has revealed that the risk of stroke from common factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes may decrease with age.
“High blood pressure and diabetes are two important risk factors for stroke that can be managed by medication, decreasing a person’s risk,” said study author George Howard, DrPH, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. “Our findings show that their association with stroke risk may be substantially less at older ages, yet other risk factors do not change with age. These differences in risk factors imply that determining whether a person is at high risk for stroke may differ depending on their age.”
A total of 28,235 individuals without a prior history of stroke were involved in the study. The participants were comprised of 41% Black and 59% white individuals, who were followed for an average duration of 11 years.
At the start of the study, participants were interviewed and given physical exams to assess risk factors. Risk factors included high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, atrial fibrillation, heart disease, and left ventricular hypertrophy which is the thickening of the heart’s left ventricle. Because of the well-known higher stroke risk in Black people, race was also considered as part of the assessed risk factors, Howard added.