Healthy Lifestyle Decreases Stroke Risk In Women

Women who regularly exercise are much less likely to suffer from strokes, according to recent findings published in the journal Neurology.

"Because the consequences of stroke are usually devastating and irreversible, prevention is of great importance," said lead study author Susanna C. Larsson, PhD, of the Karolinska Instituet in Stockholm, Sweden, in a news release. "These results are exciting because they indicate that a healthy diet and lifestyle can substantially reduce the risk of stroke, and these are lifestyle choices that people can make or improve."

For the study, researchers asked 31,696 Swedish women with an average age of about 60 to complete a 350-item questionnaire about their diet and lifestyle. Researchers followed the participants for 10 years. They found that most of the women had two or three of the healthy factors. Only 589 women had all five healthy factors, and 1,535 had none. During the study period, 1,554 stroke cases among study participants were reported. The risk of stroke steadily decreased with each additional healthy lifestyle factor.

Findings revealed that women with a healthier diet were 13 percent less likely to have a type of stroke known as cerebral infarction. Furthermore, those on healthier diets had a rate of 28 strokes per 10,000 women per year when compared to 43 strokes per 10,000 women per year on less healthy diets.

Yet researchers did not find a relationship between the healthy factors and the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding in and around the brain, accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of all strokes.