Stroke Archive

A study found that the drug ticagrelor (Brilinta) was no better than aspirin at preventing stroke among people who had a mild stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which mimics stroke-like symptoms. However, ongoing research may show benefits in using the drug in combination with aspirin.

This old standby may not be your first choice for pain relief, but it still has an important role in disease prevention and first aid.

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We have a lot to thank aspirin for. It's cheap and plentiful. It does a good job of relieving pain and bringing down fevers. It has also been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and colon cancer. It can even stop heart attacks and strokes in their tracks. In fact, if you're in your 50s or 60s, you may want to think about taking a low-dose aspirin every day.

After evaluating the results of scores of studies, in April 2016 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that women and men ages 50 through 69 who have a 10% risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years take 81 milligrams (mg) of aspirin daily. Under the previous recommendations—which, were different for men and women—daily low-dose aspirin was advised for women ages 60 through 79 who were at increased risk for cardiovascular events. The recommendation was revised to reflect a new method of calculating the risk of heart attack and stroke and of increased risk of bleeding in older people.

Loneliness and isolation are associated with an increased risk for developing coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke.

Loneliness and social isolation raises your risk of heart attack, stroke, and even early death, says a new study. The risk was similar to light smoking or obesity. 

Getting immediate attention for symptoms of a transient ischemic attack can minimize the risk of a subsequent stroke.

A painful, blistering rash known as shingles may temporarily increase a person's risk of a stroke or heart attack, according to a study in the Dec. 15, 2015 PLOS Medicine. Also known as herpes zoster, shingles results from a reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox, which most adults had during childhood.

For the study, researchers analyzed the records of more than 67,000 people ages 65 and older diagnosed with shingles and either a heart attack or stroke from 2006 through 2011. They then compared the rates of cardiovascular events before and after a shingles attack. In the first week after a shingles diagnosis, the risk of a stroke rose 2.4 times and the risk of a heart attack increased 1.7 times compared with baseline risk.

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You get the most bang for your buck from keeping blood pressure in the normal range, but don't skip the other things.

Many tasks are required to run a household. There are groceries to shop for, broken things to fix, and windows to wash. But you need to prioritize: it makes no sense to worry about the weeds in the garden if the mortgage payment is overdue.

To use the online heart age calculator, the only numbers you need are your height, weight, and blood pressure reading.

Most Americans are not as young at heart as they might like to believe. More than three in four adults have a "heart age" that's greater than their chronological age, according to federal health officials.

If you're "leaning in" by putting in extra hours on the job, you may be gaining gender equality that you don't want—the same stroke risk as your male colleagues. A recent analysis indicates that women who work 55 hours or more per week have a 30% higher risk of having a stroke than those working standard hours, making them just as likely to have a stroke as their male counterparts.

The analysis, published online Aug. 20, 2015, by The Lancet, was conducted by European public health re-searchers. It involved data from over 600,000 women and men enrolled in long-term observational studies in Europe and the United States. It was the first such analysis of the relationship between working long hours and stroke. The researchers noted several factors that might have contributed to the elevated stroke risk, including the additional stress of balancing the extra work hours, inactivity, long periods of sitting, and ignoring stroke warning signs.

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Research we're watching

People who work long hours may face a higher risk of stroke, according to a study published online Aug. 20, 2015, by Lancet.

Researchers pooled data from 17 studies from the United States, Europe, and Australia that followed more than 528,000 workers for an average of just over seven years. None of the participants had cardiovascular disease when they signed up for the studies.