The stroke/heart disease connection

Do you think this list contains risk factors for heart disease or risk factors for stroke?

increasing age
high blood pressure
diabetes (type 1 or type 2)
cigarette smoking
family history
heavy consumption of alcohol
high blood cholesterol
being physically inactive
being obese or overweight

If you said heart disease, you're correct. If you said stroke, you're also correct.

Chances are heart disease may have been the first thing you thought of. For some reason, many people don’t know as much about stroke.

People with heart disease have three times the risk of stroke as people who don't have heart disease. Other stroke risk factors include…

having had a stroke before
carotid artery disease – This is a build up of plaque in the main blood veins leading up the neck and into the brain.
high red blood cell count – When there are too many, red blood cells can clump together and block blood vessels.

Heart attack or "brain attack"

During a heart attack, the flow of blood to the heart is blocked.

During most strokes, the flow of blood to the brain is blocked. These blockages are usually caused by fatty deposits in the arteries, a condition called atherosclerosis.

You may hear stroke called a "brain attack." That term better describes what a stroke is and how seriously it can affect you.

What a stroke feels like

Strokes can happen to anyone at any age – even to people who seem completely healthy and active.

"I was the picture of perfect health. I played basketball religiously. I played football," says Andrew "Drew" Walker, who had a stroke at age 31.

"The experience of having a stroke was weird. I lost the ability to move on the left side of my body. I couldn't speak well. Imagine speaking with a mouth full of food…

"I recall being asked by my doctors to move my left hand. In my mind, I was moving my hand, but physically there was no movement."

Know the warning signs

If you notice any of these signs of a stroke, in yourself or someone else, immediately call 911.

sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
sudden difficulty understanding or speaking
sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
sudden dizziness, loss of balance, trouble walking
sudden, severe headache

Not all signs occur with every stroke. You may notice just one sign, but it disappears, and then returns.

Effects of stroke

Having a stroke can change your life. It can cause…

one side of your body to be paralyzed
vision problems
memory loss
trouble speaking or not being able to speak at all
personality changes

Sometimes, the above effects are permanent. Sometimes, they become less severe over time, but never completely go away

Your best chance for a good recovery is to get emergency treatment without delay.

Dying from stroke

After heart disease and cancer, stroke is the third main cause of death in the United States.

About half of stroke deaths occur before the person reaches the hospital. That’s why quick emergency medical attention is so important.
Stroke killed 162,672 Americans in 2002, causing 1 in every 15 deaths. More than half (61 percent) of them were women.
African Americans are more likely to die from a stroke than whites. African Americans also tend to have more heart disease risk factors, such as being overweight or obese, smoking cigarettes and having high blood pressure.

Lower your risks

It's important for people of any race to take a look at their lifestyle, identify the stroke risk factors they can control and take steps to decrease those risks.

Talk with your doctor about your stroke risk and what you can do to lower it. Common steps include…

quitting smoking
controlling diabetes
lowering high blood pressure and/or cholesterol