Lifestyle-associated risk factors for acute brain infarction among persons of working age.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE This study was designed to identify whether cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, obesity, and use of oral contraceptives are independent risk factors for brain infarction among persons of working age. METHODS Health habits and previous diseases of 506 patients (366 men and 140 women aged 16 to 60 years) with acute first-ever symptomatic brain infarction were compared with those of 345 hospitalized control patients (219 men and 126 women) who did not differ from case subjects in respect to day of onset of symptoms or acuteness of disease onset. With the use of stepwise logistic regression, the variables for which the simultaneous risks of acute brain infarction were tested by sex were age, amount of alcohol consumed within 24 hours and 1 week before the illness, heavy drinking, smoking status, current smoking, cardiac disease, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipemia, migraine, body mass index, and, in women, current use of oral contraceptives. RESULTS Intake of > 40 g ethanol within the 24 hours preceding the onset of illness increased the risk for acute brain infarction both among men (P < .001) and women (P < .01) independently from other risk factors. Other significant independent risk factors for brain infarction among men were hypertension (P < .001), cardiac disease (P < .01), current smoking (P < .01), diabetes (P < .05), and history of migraine (P < .05) and among women, current use of oral contraceptives (P < .01) and current smoking (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Recent heavy drinking of alcohol, hypertension, cardiac disease, current smoking, diabetes, and history of migraine among men, and recent heavy drinking of alcohol, current use of oral contraceptives, and current smoking among women, seem to be independent risk factors for acute brain infarction.

[1]  M. G. Verdier,et al.  Alcohol consumption and stroke mortality. 20-year follow-up of 15,077 men and women. , 1995, Stroke.

[2]  S. Juvela,et al.  Risk factors for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. , 1995, Stroke.

[3]  E. Beghi,et al.  Stroke and alcohol intake in a hospital population. A case-control study. , 1995, Stroke.

[4]  H. Iso,et al.  Alcohol intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged Japanese men. , 1995, Stroke.

[5]  J. van der Meer,et al.  Sensitivity to Activated Protein C; Influence of Oral Contraceptives and Sex , 1995, Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

[6]  R. Sacco,et al.  Predictors of mortality and recurrence after hospitalized cerebral infarction in an urban community , 1994, Neurology.

[7]  N. Bornstein.  Lifestyle Changes: Smoking, Alcohol, Diet and Exercise , 1994 .

[8]  P. Gorelick,et al.  Stroke Prevention: An Opportunity for Efficient Utilization of Health Care Resources During the Coming Decade , 1994, Stroke.

[9]  C. Anderson,et al.  The Role of Lifestyle Factors in the Etiology of Stroke: A Population‐Based Case‐Control Study in Perth, Western Australia , 1994, Stroke.

[10]  M. Kaste,et al.  Regular Light‐to‐Moderate Intake of Alcohol and the Risk of Ischemic Stroke: Is There a Beneficial Effect? , 1993, Stroke.

[11]  G. Boysen,et al.  Lifestyle Factors and Risk of Cerebrovascular Disease in Women: The Copenhagen City Heart Study , 1993, Stroke.

[12]  D. Bates,et al.  Alcohol and Stroke: A Case‐Control Study of Drinking Habits Past and Present , 1993, Stroke.

[13]  R. Shinton,et al.  Lifelong exercise and stroke. , 1993, BMJ.

[14]  S. Juvela,et al.  Cigarette Smoking and Alcohol Consumption as Risk Factors for Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage , 1993, Stroke.

[15]  G. Beevers,et al.  The relation of alcohol consumption to cardiovascular risk factors and stroke. The west Birmingham stroke project. , 1993, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[16]  T. Koepsell,et al.  Cigarette Smoking, Alcohol Use, and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage , 1992, Stroke.

[17]  T. Wyller,et al.  Lifestyle Factors and Risk of Cerebral Infarction , 1992, Stroke.

[18]  K. Welch,et al.  Accelerated intracranial occlusive disease, oral contraceptives, and cigarette use , 1991, Neurology.

[19]  P. Despland,et al.  Cardiac sources of embolism and cerebral infarction—clinical consequences and vascular concomitants , 1991, Neurology.

[20]  P. Macfarlane,et al.  Risk factors for stroke in middle aged British men. , 1991, BMJ.

[21]  M. Kupari,et al.  Time of onset of supraventricular tachyarrhythmia in relation to alcohol consumption. , 1991, The American journal of cardiology.

[22]  Edward M. Hitchcock,et al.  Alcohol consumption--a risk factor for hemorrhagic and non-hemorrhagic stroke. , 1991, The American journal of medicine.

[23]  M. Kupari,et al.  Role of alcohol in recurrences of atrial fibrillation in persons <65 years of age☆ , 1990 .

[24]  P. Despland,et al.  Alcohol consumption and carotid atherosclerosis in the Lausanne Stroke Registry. , 1990, Stroke.

[25]  C. Camargo,et al.  Moderate alcohol consumption and stroke. The epidemiologic evidence. , 1989, Stroke.

[26]  A. Artero,et al.  [Experience of granulomatous diseases in a general hospital]. , 1988, Revista clinica espanola.

[27]  J. Bonnar.  Coagulation effects of oral contraception. , 1987, American journal of obstetrics and gynecology.

[28]  M. Aronson,et al.  Screening for alcohol abuse using the CAGE questionnaire. , 1987, The American journal of medicine.

[29]  R. Verley,et al.  [Organization of the nervous system after coagulation of the follicles of mystacial vibrissae in the newborn mouse: an example of neuronal plasticity]. , 1986, Revue neurologique.

[30]  C. Kitchens,et al.  The effects of low-dose oral contraceptives on coagulation and fibrinolysis in two high-risk populations: young female smokers and older premenopausal women. , 1985, American journal of obstetrics and gynecology.

[31]  F. Beller,et al.  Effects of Oral Contraceptives on Blood Coagulation. A Review , 1985, Obstetrical & gynecological survey.

[32]  J. Nelson,et al.  Association of cerebral infarction and chronic alcoholism: an autopsy study. , 1981, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[33]  D. Mayfield,et al.  The CAGE questionnaire: validation of a new alcoholism screening instrument. , 1974, The American journal of psychiatry.