The Stroke Center provides education for hospital inpatients and the community on preventing strokes by identifying risk factors.
Risk factors that can usually be prevented or controlled:
- Smoking
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Heart disease and atrial fibrillation
- Artery disease, including plaque in the carotid arteries to the brain and arteries to the legs or arms (peripheral artery disease/peripheral vascular disease)
- Obesity, physical inactivity
- A poor diet, high in saturated and trans fat and cholesterol
The hospital also offers a number of
wellness programs that can help with stroke risk factors, including nutrition counseling, stress management, screenings and smoking cessation. We also offer a variety of
weight-loss programs, including
bariatric surgery such as gastric bypass and gastric banding.
Risk factors that can't be changed:
- Age - Stroke risk doubles for each decade after age 55.
- Gender - Strokes are more common among men, but more women die of stroke than men. Pregnancy and birth control pills increase women's risk.
- Family history of stroke
- Race - African Americans have a higher risk of stroke death than Caucasians.
- Prior stroke, heart attack or TIA (transient ischemic attack, a kind of "warning stroke" with stroke symptoms but no lasting damage)
