Features -Women 'ignorant' of stroke risk

Most women are ignorant of small lifestyle changes that would "dramatically reduce" the risk of strokes, the Stroke Association says.

The charity has survey evidence that shows 60% of women do not remember their last blood pressure reading.

Two-thirds do not know what an optimal blood pressure reading should be. Two surveys were conducted by GFK NOP among 1,000 people aged over 16.

Stroke is the most common cause of long-term disability, it says.

Women are twice as likely to die from it as men, it added.

And it points out that a third of stroke survivors have some sort of communication difficulty.

It predicts that 110 women under the age of 65 will have a stroke this week, 37 of whom will die.

Had they controlled their blood pressure, 15 of them could have avoided a stroke altogether.

Further research found that more than 80% of women failed to make a connection between a lack of exercise and the increased risk of having a stroke.

More than two-thirds did not realise that there was also a link between poor diet, alcohol consumption and having a stroke.

"Regular, excessive drinking, smoking, poor diet and a lack of exercise mean that women are pushing their blood pressure to dangerous levels without realising it," said Joe Korner, the association's director of external affairs.

"People don't realise that by making very small lifestyle changes they can dramatically reduce the risk of having a stroke - for example, moderate exercise can decrease the chances by 27% and eating your 'five-a-day' can reduce the risk by a quarter."

For the full story go to BBC News

Page created: 17 February 2009