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Cerebrovascular disease and risk of stroke
Submitted by Dr. Yasser
Mokhtar, MD. Dept. of internal medicine. School of
medicine, University of South Dakota.
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Stroke is a loss of cerebral
function with symptoms lasting >24 hrs or death due to vascular
disease |
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Risk factors for stroke
Non-modifiable risk factors
Although cerebrovascular disorders may occur at any age, at any time, in
either sex and in all races, each of these non-modifiable factors affect the
incidence of stroke.
Age
This is the strongest risk factor for cerebral infarction, primary
intracerebral hemorrhage (PICH) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) (Bamford et
al., 1990) and almost certainly for subtypes of cerebral infarction as well
(e.g. lacunar infarction) (Bamford et al., 1987) and for TIA (Dennis et al.,
1989).
Stroke incidence rises exponentially with age, with most strokes occuring in
persons older than sixty five years. Stroke is less common before the age of
forty. It was found that the risk of stroke in people aged 75-84 is 14.3 per
thousand per annum which is 25 times that in people aged 45-54 years with
incidence of stroke 0.57 per thousand per annum (Bamford et al., 1988).
Sex
There is a small male excess of strokes, most prominent in middle age and
disappearing in the very elderly and probably absent in the young (Haberman et
al., 1981). A similar pattern is found for transient ischemic attacks (Dennis et
al., 1989).
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