A wrong lifestyle has a much greater impact on the risk of stroke than genes

Study shows: lifestyle has a greater impact on the risk of stroke than genes

A recent study has shown that lifestyle has a greater impact on stroke risk than genes. According to the researchers, people who live healthily can compensate for genetic disadvantages. An unhealthy lifestyle and bad genes, on the other hand, add up.

One of the most common causes of death in Germany

According to health experts, around 270,000 people in Germany suffer a stroke each year. The so-called cerebral infarction is one of the most common causes of death in this country. According to experts, the risk of stroke is reduced by a healthy lifestyle with balanced nutrition, physical activity, avoidance of obesity and normal cholesterol levels and the prevention of certain risk factors such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, atrial fibrillation and lipid metabolism disorders. The great role played by a healthy lifestyle in stroke prevention has also been shown in a recently published study.

According to a recent study, the wrong genes increase the risk of stroke by one third, the wrong lifestyle by two-thirds - both factors act independently. (Image: psdesign1 / fotolia.com)

What affects the risk of stroke

As the German Neuroscience Society writes in a communication, the risk of stroke is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle.

But what is stronger? According to the results of an international team of scientists, the wrong genes increase the risk of stroke by one third, the wrong lifestyle by two-thirds - both factors work independently.

Anyone who lives healthily can compensate for genetic disadvantages.

"The results show that a healthy lifestyle is worthwhile for stroke prevention - regardless of the genetic risk profile," explained Prof. Dr. med. med. Martin Dichgans, 2nd Chairman of the German Stroke Society (DSG), which was involved by the German side in the study.

The study results of the German-British research team led by Dr. med. Loes Rutten-Jacobs from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn were published in the "British Medical Journal".

Genetic profiles and lifestyle analyzed

The researchers reported that their research was based on the MEGASTROKE analysis, which has identified genetic stroke risk factors in 520,000 white Europeans through genome-wide association studies.

In it, 90 gene variants associated with stroke were discovered. On this basis, the scientists developed around Dr. med. Rutten-Jacobs took a risk score and applied it to the British Prospective Biobank Cohort Study.

The UK Biobank contains the biological information of 500,000 Britons between the ages of 40 and 69: genetic profiles and detailed nutrition and lifestyle information.

Based on their genetic risk score, those biobank participants who had previously had no stroke or heart attack were classified into three groups: those at high, medium, and low genetic risk of stroke.

In addition, the researchers grouped the subjects into healthy, moderately healthy and unhealthy lifestyle categories according to American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines.

Healthy lives according to AHA, who does not smoke, is not too fat (BMI under 30), with a lot of fruit, vegetables and fish nourished healthy and weekly at least three hours moderately or one and a half hours of intense sports drives.

Smoking and obesity increase stroke risk by 66 percent

A total of 2,077 of the 306,473 participants suffered a first stroke in the course of seven years, as the researchers removed hospital and death records.

The risk of stroke was 35 percent higher in those with high genetic risk than those with low genetic risk, regardless of lifestyle. At moderate genetic risk, the rate was increased by 20 percent.

The association with lifestyle was clearer: participants with an unhealthy lifestyle suffered 66 percent more strokes than healthy individuals, regardless of the genetic risk.

For those who were moderately healthy, the stroke rate increased by 27 percent.

Bad genes and unhealthy lifestyle add up

Poor genes and an unhealthy lifestyle thus independently increase the risk of stroke and add up, as the scientists were able to show.

In individuals with unfavorable genes and at the same time unhealthy lifestyles, they found an approximately 130 percent higher stroke rate than those with low genetic risk and healthy lifestyle.

Smoking and increased BMI contributed the most to lifestyle-related stroke risk. In men, both genes and lifestyle factors were stronger than women.

"The results show that a healthy lifestyle is worthwhile for stroke prevention, regardless of the genetic risk profile. Men should pay particular attention to a healthy lifestyle ", says Prof. Dr. med. med. Martin Dichgans, whose Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) at the University of Munich Hospital was involved in the study from the German side. (Ad)