Sticking to seven healthy habits can almost halve the risk of having a stroke, a study has found.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Houston say that maintaining a good diet and exercising regularly may even offset any genetic risk.
Other key steps include not smoking and losing weight.
Experts followed 11,500 middle-aged adults in the United States for nearly 30 years, observing the impact of their lifestyle on their risk of stroke.
Researchers from the University of Texas at Houston say maintaining a good diet and exercising regularly may even offset any genetic risk
Leading a healthy lifestyle could offset up to 43% of the high genetic risk of having a stroke, according to a study from the University of Texas. The graph shows: The risk of having a stroke at a given point in people’s lives over time for people following the seven habits (dark green), some of them (light green) or some- one of them (grey)
The habits, devised by the American Heart Association, are dubbed “Life’s Simple 7”.
Although there are seven listed, only four are modifiable factors.
The other three – maintaining normal blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and lowering blood sugar – are training effects for staying healthy.
Strokes affect more than 100,000 Britons every year, claiming 38,000 lives, making it the UK’s fourth biggest killer and one of the leading causes of disability.
Nearly 800,000 people in the United States are slaughtered each year, of whom 137,000 die.
Age, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, physical inactivity and diabetes are all known to increase the risk of stroke.
Another risk factor is a family history of the disease, when a vessel becomes blocked or bursts – cutting off blood supply to parts of the brain.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, followed 11,568 adults aged 45 to 64 for an average of 28 years.
All participants received a ‘polygenic stroke risk score’ – based on blood tests that identified telltale mutations linked to fatal events.
This assessed the likelihood of them having a stroke in their lifetime, based solely on their DNA.
Their medical records were also checked to see how well they followed the seven lifestyle habits.
Hypocholesterolemia was scored based on how much and how much of lipid-lowering drugs — like statins — they were taking.
Blood pressure was also measured by the medications people were taking, while blood sugar levels were scored by whether or not they were being treated for diabetes.
Smoking status was recorded, BMI showed body weight, diet was guessed with fruit and vegetable consumption, and physical activity was measured in minutes per week.
Participants with the highest genetic risk and the worst heart health had the highest risk of suffering a stroke, at around 25%.
But for those who had practiced Life’s Simple 7, it dropped by 30-43%, according to the analysis.
Following the practices also added almost six more years of stroke-free life.
Overall, the healthiest group had the fewest stroke cases (6%), while the highest number were among those who followed the habits the least (57%).
The findings offer hope for a screening program, according to lead author Professor Myriam Fornage, a geneticist at the University of Texas at Houston.
She said: “Our study confirmed that modifying lifestyle risk factors, such as blood pressure control, can offset a genetic risk for stroke.
“We can use genetic information to determine who is most at risk and encourage them to adopt a healthy cardiovascular lifestyle, such as following the AHA’s Life’s Simple 7, to reduce that risk and live a longer, healthier life. better health.”