| dc.description.abstract | Layman's Summary
Stroke (brain attack) is a disease of the brain and circulation system and occurs when the blood supply to the brain is blocked. It is the 3rd most common cause of death and disability in the world. However, it is a preventable disease. Earlier studies have shown physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, smoking, high blood sugar and high blood pressure (unhealthy lifestyle factors) increase stroke risk. Therefore, in the last 20 years, health providers have focused on preventing stroke instead of treating it. In 2022, the American Heart Association (AHA) designed a scoring system that combines common heart disease risk factors (diet, physical activity, smoking, sleep health, body weight, blood fats, blood pressure, and blood sugar) to identify and track heart health. Thus, stroke and heart diseases can be prevented by improving these risk factors together. AHA called this scoring system Life's Essential 8 (LE8). A higher LE8 score means better heart health. In this study, we investigated the relationship between LE8 score and the risk of stroke.
There were 37,358 participants in our research and we calculated LE8 scores for each participant and ran advanced analysis to identify the relationship. Our research showed that participants with better heart health (higher LE8 scores) had a lower risk of having a stroke. To conclude, LE8 is a new suitable scoring system to evaluate the heart health, and stroke can be prevented by having a high LE8 score. It is important to follow a healthy lifestyle to prevent stroke. | |
