Preventing a stroke
There are two types of stroke. One is caused by a bleed in the brain and is called a haemorrhagic stroke.
By far the most common type of stroke, however, is an ischaemic stroke, which is caused by a blockage in
the arteries leading to the brain.
There are many things you can do to try and prevent an ischaemic stroke from happening to you in the first place (primary
prevention) or to prevent another stroke or transient ischaeimic attack (TIA – sometimes called a mini-stroke) from
happening again (secondary prevention).
This involves looking at key areas in your life such as smoking, diet, cholesterol, physical activity levels, diabetes
and whether or not you are overweight. It is particularly important in stroke prevention to make sure that your blood
pressure is checked regularly. Any irregular heart beat should also be investigated and treated as this could be a condition
known as atrial fibrillation. All of these are called risk factors.
There are other risk factors for having a stroke such as your age (although anyone can have a stroke), your gender (men
are more likely to have a stroke than women), your race and your family history. Your doctor may ask you about your immediate
family, as this will help assess your risk of developing the disease. You are also more at risk if you already have an inflammatory
condition such as rheumatoid arthritis.
However, even if you do have a family history of stroke, or arthritis, you can greatly reduce your risk of having a stroke
yourself, by looking at your lifestyle and reducing the number of risk factors you have.
If you have already had a stroke or have a high risk of having one, your doctor will prescribe you certain medications
will also help to reduce your risk.
The information in this section has been adapted from the Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland leaflet "Reducing the risk of stroke".
