| Abstract: | ![]()
Abstract. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease and cigarette smoking have repeatedly been identified as risk factors for stroke in young and middle-aged individuals. In order to find predicting factors for stroke in the elderly we assessed health characteristics in 55 stroke victims in the age range 65–75 years (mean 70.7±2.7) allocated to our stroke unit at Östra University Hospital in Gothenburg. For comparison we used data from 2009 individuals participating in the ongoing longitudinal population study “70-year-old people in Gothenburg, Sweden”. Among the stroke victims we found a higher prevalence of hypertension (63.5% vs. 27.8%, p<0.001), diabetes mellitus (21.8% vs. 6.2%, p<0.001) and a history of previous myocardial infarction (12.7% vs. 4.8%, p<0.01), thus confirming previous findings. There was no difference with regard to smoking habits (32.7% vs. 27.5%, NS), which is at variance with findings in the young and middle-aged. |
