Being Born In The Wrong Demographic (for a stroke)
Not every risk factor is under your control.
Black Americans and females are at a disadvantage when it comes to stroke.
Researchers report that Blacks are twice as likely as whites to have a stroke. Women aged 35 to 64 are almost three times as likely to have a stroke as men of the same age. Reasons may be that Blacks have higher rates of high blood pressure and diabetes. Women in midlife carry more abdominal fat than men, all risk factors for stroke.
Living The “Southern” Lifestyle Can Cause a Stroke
The swath of stroke-prone states across the Southeastern United States is the “Stroke Belt”. These states include North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.
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But recent research suggests that just being born and spending your childhood in one of these states raises your risk for stroke. This could happen even if you move away later.
A study published in the journal Neurology in 2009 gave insight into strokes and location. Harvard public health professor Maria Glymour and her colleagues shared data about blacks and strokes. According to research, being born in the Stroke Belt increased the risk of stroke by 22 percent. For whites, the number was 30 percent. Part of the reason may be due to risk factors like poor diet, smoking and obesity. This may start earlier in southern states, Glymour told LiveScience.
“By the time that they’re middle-aged and we’re enrolling them in our studies, it looks like lots of people have those risk factors,” she said. “But maybe people in the South have been carrying them for longer.”
