Lifestyle doubles risk of stroke

A study of more than 20 000 people, published in the British Medical Journal, shows that smoking, drinking too much, not taking enough exercise and eating too few fruit and vegetables, contribute to the chances of a stroke.

Previous studies have shown that lifestyle behaviour, such as smoking and diet, are associated with the risk of heart attacks and stroke, but the impact of a combination of risk factors in apparently healthy people has been less clear.

In the latest study, led by the University of East Anglia, researchers gave one point for each "healthy behaviour" reported by the participants, aged between 40 and 79.
One point was given to those who did not smoke, one point awarded for drinking just one to 14 units of alcohol a week, one point for consuming five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and one point for being physically active.

A significantly higher percentage of women than men scored a maximum of four.
The study found those who scored zero points were 2.3 times more likely to have a stroke in the 11-year follow-up than those with four points.

For every point decrease in the scores, there was an increase in likelihood of stroke, the researchers said.

Some 259 people did not score any points, of whom 15 had a stroke - at a rate of 5.8%. But the most common score was three - achieved by 7822 individuals, of whom 186, or 2.4%, had a stroke.

Around 5000 achieved the healthiest score of four, which was associated with an absolute stroke risk of 1.7%.

Researchers say that these findings further support the idea of small lifestyle changes making a difference to the risk of stroke.