Midlife Weight Gain Increases Stroke Risk
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Being overweight after age 40 could double a man's stroke risk, a new study shows.
It's more evidence that obesity (search) is a major — but modifiable — risk factor for numerous chronic health problems including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and now stroke risk.
Little research has investigated the stroke-obesity link, and most has produced conflicting results, writes lead researcher Katarina Jood, MD, with the Institute of Clinical Neuroscience at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden.
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Her study appears in the November issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
It shows that treating high blood pressure and diabetes is not enough to prevent stroke, she says in a news release. "Obesity should also be considered a significant risk factor."
Obesity and Stroke Risk
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In Jood's study, she and her colleagues examined whether there's an association between high body mass index (search) (BMI, a measure of body fat) and stroke risk. They also looked at whether this association was mediated by the effects of obesity on high blood pressure and diabetes — known stroke risk factors.
The study was conducted in Sweden and involved 7,402 middle-aged men (47-55) whose health was tracked for more than 28 years. There were 873 strokes.
Obese men with a BMI over 30 had doublethe risk of stroke compared with men of normal weight whose BMI was between 20 and 23. Even after other risk factors — like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, stress, exercise, smoking, and family history — were factored in, the increased stroke risk still held true, reports Jood.
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By Jeanie Lerche Davis, reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
SOURCES: Jood, K. Stroke; November 2004. News release, American Heart Association.