This quotation, although made more than one hundred years ago, remains very true today. New evidence from the INTERSTROKE study, published recently in The Lancet, shows that ten risk factors – many associated with lifestyle – account for 90% of the risk of stroke.1 Analysis of data from 6,000 people, half suffering strokes and the other half matched controls, from 22 countries worldwide between March 2007 and April 2010, revealed these risk factors are: high blood pressure, smoking, waist-to-hip ratio (abdominal obesity), physical inactivity, diet, lipids, diabetes, alcohol intake, stress and depression, and heart disorders.
