Minor changes in cardiovascular health reduce chances of stroke

NIH-supported study supports need for more research in stroke prevention

2013-06-07

(Press-News.org) A report, published in Stroke, showed that small improvements in cardiovascular risk factors reduce the chances a person will suffer a stroke. The report is part of an ongoing national study called Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) which is funded by NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Strokes are caused by abnormal changes in blood flow in the brain or the bursting of brain blood vessels. Previous studies suggest that strokes can be prevented by reducing risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. In 2010, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association defined seven critical risk factors as: elevated blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose, obesity, current smoking, physical inactivity, and poor diet and then used them to create a cardiovascular health score called Life's Simple 7 (LS7). Each factor was scored as 0 (poor compliance), 1 (intermediate compliance), or 2 (ideal compliance), with resulting overall total scores grouped into three categories such that a score of 0-4 indicates poor cardiovascular health, 5-9 average health, and 10-14 represents optimal health.

For this study, researchers measured the relationship between these scores and the occurrence of stroke in over 22,000 subjects in the REGARDS study enrolled between 2003 to 2007. The results showed that an increase in even one point on the overall LS7 scorecard significantly reduced the chances a subject would have a stroke within 5 years. These increases affected white and black subjects equally.

### Article: Kulshreshtha et al. "Life's Simple 7 and Risk of Incident of Stroke: Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study,"
Stroke, June 6, 2013. DOI: 10.1161/STROKEHA.111.000352

Who: Walter Koroshetz, M.D., Deputy Director, NINDS, and Claudia Moy, Ph.D., Program Director, NINDS Office of Clinical Research are available to discuss this research.

This study was supported by grants from NINDS (NS041588) and NHLBI (HL077506)

For more information about stroke, please visit:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/stroke.htm NINDS is the nation's leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The NINDS mission is to reduce the burden of neurological disease – a burden borne by every age group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

'Dust trap' around distant star may solve planet formation mystery

2013-06-07

Based on a treasure trove of recent discoveries, astronomers now know that planets are remarkably plentiful in our galaxy and may be common throughout the Universe. Though planets appear to form readily, the actual process of planet formation remains a mystery and astronomers are searching for the missing pieces to this cosmic puzzle. An international team of researchers using the new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope has discovered an intriguing clue that could help explain how rocky planets are able to evolve out of a swirling disk of dust ...

How young genes gain a toehold on becoming indispensable

2013-06-07

SEATTLE – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists have, for the first time, mapped a young gene's short, dramatic evolutionary journey to becoming essential, or indispensable. In a study published online June 6 in Science, the researchers detail one gene's rapid switch to a new and essential function in the fruit fly, challenging the long-held belief that only ancient genes are important. "We really haven't paid much attention to what is new, because there's so much emphasis on what is old," said Harmit Singh Malik, Ph.D., a member of the Hutchinson Center's ...

Rapid change in China brings significant improvements in health

2013-06-07

SEATTLE—China made substantial gains in health over the past two decades, including increases in life expectancy, reductions in child mortality, and declines in infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and lower respiratory infections. But with that success accompanies the growth of non-communicable diseases and risk factors such as tobacco use and high blood pressure, which could overwhelm the health system. These are some of the findings published June 8 in The Lancet in an analysis by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Peking Union Medical College ...

Gannets don't eat off each other's plates

2013-06-07

Colonies of gannets maintain vast exclusive fishing ranges despite doing nothing to defend their territory from rival colonies, scientists have discovered. A team of researchers led by the University of Leeds and the University of Exeter observed that northern gannets, which can fly hundreds of kilometres on a single fishing trip, avoided visiting the fishing grounds of gannets from neighbouring colonies. The findings, published in the journal Science, could transform our understanding of animals' foraging patterns because individual gannets do nothing to enforce this ...

The protein profile of restless leg syndrome

2013-06-07

A protein profile of people with restless leg syndrome (RLS), identifies factors behind disrupted sleep, cardiovascular dysfunction and pain finds research in BioMed Central's open access journal Fluids and Barriers of the CNS. The research gives insights into the disorder, and could be useful in the development of new treatments. It is not completely clear what causes RLS, also known as Willis Ekbom disease (WED), but in some people it is associated with iron deficiency in the brain, kidney failure, or low levels of the ' pleasure' neurotransmitter dopamine. It can ...

Very berry study aims to improve wine quality

2013-06-07

A gene expression study of grapevine berries grown in different Italian vineyards has highlighted genes that help buffer the plants against environmental change and may explain the different quality performances of grapevine when grown in different "terroirs". The research, reported in the open access journal Genome Biology, could be used to help identify and breed grapevine varieties better suited to climate change and improve berry and wine quality. Much to the inconvenience of winemakers and drinkers, grapevine berries vary within berries on vines grown in different ...

Spooky action put to order

2013-06-07

This news release is available in German. "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." Thus spoke the American physicist Richard Feynman — underlining that even leading scientists struggle to develop an intuitive feeling for quantum mechanics. One reason for this is that quantum phenomena often have no counterpart in classical physics. A typical example is the quantum entanglement: Entangled particles seem to directly influence one another, no matter how widely separated they are. It looks as if the particles can 'communicate' with one another ...

MIT study sheds light on what causes compulsive behavior, could improve OCD treatments

2013-06-07

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- By activating a brain circuit that controls compulsive behavior, MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can block a compulsive behavior in mice — a result that could help researchers develop new treatments for diseases such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette's syndrome. About 1 percent of U.S. adults suffer from OCD, and patients usually receive antianxiety drugs or antidepressants, behavioral therapy, or a combination of therapy and medication. For those who do not respond to those treatments, a new alternative is deep brain stimulation, ...

Living on the margins drives HIV epidemic in Europe and central Asia, new report says

2013-06-07

Social and structural factors – such as poverty, marginalisation and stigma – and not just individual behaviours are shaping the HIV epidemic in Europe and central Asia. This is the main conclusion of a new report released today (Friday 7 June) by the World Bank Group, WHO/Europe and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The study systematically reviews evidence on HIV vulnerability and response in all countries of the WHO European Region. The report, HIV in the European Region: vulnerability and response, focuses on key populations most at risk of HIV infection: ...

Access to health care among Thailand's poor reduces infant mortality

2013-06-07

(June 6, 2013 – Chicago, IL) When health care reform in Thailand increased payments to public hospitals for indigent care, more poor people sought medical treatment and infant mortality was reduced, even though the cost of medical care remained free for the poor, a new study shows. The study, "The Great Equalizer: Health Care Access and Infant Mortality in Thailand," funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, found that reducing out-of-pocket costs of medical care had less of an impact than providing more money to hospitals. The study also suggests that health ...

Minor changes in cardiovascular health reduce chances of stroke

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: