Abstract
Objective : Stroke is a serious disease despite of the recent improvement in medical treatment. Hence, identification of modifiable risk factors for stroke is important. This case-control study was done to demonstrate that relation between risk factors(familial history of stroke, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and heart disease), lifestyle factors(alcohol drinking, psychologic stress, exercise, liking salty and hot foods) and the incidence of stroke. Methods : We interviewed 214 stroke patients(116 in men, 98 in women) as case group and 205 non-stroke patients(118 in men, 87 in women) as control group from January 1, 2001 to July 31, 2001 in oriental hospital of Kyung Hee medical center. We investigated risk factors, lifestyle factors of stroke in all patients and stroke-subtype of case group. Stroke-subtype consists of cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage. Results : The percentage of familial history in the case group was significantly higher than that of control group, especially in the patients of cerebral infarction. The most ordinary preceding disease was hypertension. And the preceding disease of hypertension, diabetes mellitus was associated positively with the risk of stroke. The percentage of exercise was significantly higher than that of control group. The percentage of alcohol drinking, psychologic stress within 1 week and liking salty and hot foods was higher in the case group. However, there was no significant difference between case and control group. Conclusion : According to the above results, we found that familial history of stroke, preceding disease(hypertension, diabetes mellitus) affected to the incidence of stroke and exercise might be predisposing risk factors for stroke.
