What are the risk factors for stroke?

There are some factors in our lives that we cannot change that increase our risk of suffering a stroke, for example

• ageing (the older a person gets, the greater their risk)
• family history and/or ethnic group

There are also risk factors that we can control:

• high blood pressure
• current heart disease
• high blood cholesterol
• physical inactivity
• being overweight
• smoking
• diabetes

Other factors that have been associated with stroke include excessive alcohol consumption (up to 10-fold increase in risk), smoking, cocaine abuse and oral contraceptives. It has been found that stroke deaths occur more often during periods of extreme temperatures.

Dangers/consequences of a stroke

Different areas of the brain control different functions of the body such as movement, speech, hearing and sight. A stroke causing damage to these areas of the brain will affect the functions they control. Consequently, some parts of the body may be paralysed and problems with hearing and speech may be experienced. However, many make a good recovery because other areas of the brain take over that specific function.

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