Risk factors

Coronary heart disease and stroke share many of the same risk factors. The more risk factors you have, the higher your chances of having a stroke. The best way to prevent a stroke is to reduce your stroke risk factors.

Risk factors for stroke that can be controlled or treated

• High blood pressure
  High blood pressure (140/90 mm Hg or higher) is the most important risk factor for stroke. It usually has no specific symptoms and no early warning signs. That’s why everybody should have their blood pressure checked regularly.
• Tobacco use
  Nicotine and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduce the amount of oxygen in your blood. They also damage the walls of blood vessels, making clots more likely to form. Learn how to quit.
• Diabetes
  Diabetes increases a person's risk of stroke because many people with diabetes also have high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and are overweight. 
• Carotid or other artery disease
  Carotid arteries in your neck supply blood to your brain. A carotid artery narrowed by fatty deposits from atherosclerosis (plaque buildups in artery walls) may become blocked by a blood clot.
• High blood cholesterol
  High level of total cholesterol in the blood (240 mg/dL or higher) is a major risk factor for heart disease, which raises your risk of stroke.  Learn more about cholesterol 
• Physical inactivity and obesity
  Being inactive, obese or both can increase your risk of high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
• Excessive alcohol
  Drinking an average of more than one alcoholic drink a day for women or more than two drinks a day for men can raise blood pressure and may increase risk for stroke.

Risk factors for stroke you can't change

• Increasing age
  People of all ages, including children, have strokes. But the older you are, the greater your risk for stroke.
• Gender
  Stroke is more common in men than in women. However, women account for more than half of all stroke deaths. Women who are pregnant have a higher stroke risk. So do women taking birth control pills who also smoke or have high blood pressure or other risk factors.
• Family history and race
  Your stroke risk is greater if a parent, grandparent, sister or brother has had a stroke. African Americans have a much higher risk of death from a stroke than Caucasians do. This is partly because blacks have higher risks of high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.
• Prior stroke or heart attack
  Someone who has had a stroke is at much higher risk of having another one. If you've had a heart attack, you're at higher risk of having a stroke, too.