How Is Waistline Linked To Stroke?

Cerebrovascular disease is a group of brain dysfunctions related to disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain, with hypertension (high blood pressure) being the most important cause. Results of cerebrovascular disease can include a stroke, or occasionally a hemorrhagic stroke.

In Taiwan, cerebrovascular disease ranked third in the 10 leading causes of death, showing stroke could be the immense threat for the health of Taiwanese.

Scientists have found the link between waistline and heart disease. But how about stroke, does it also has some connection with the waistline?

According to a study conducted by the Millennium Health Foundation (MHF) in Taiwan, a one-centimeter increase in waistline raises the likelihood of getting a minor stroke by 2 percent.

Minor stroke, also known as transient ischemic attack (TIA), is a condition showing stroke-like symptoms that generally last for just a few minutes and do not cause any lasting impairment. TIA is, however, a warning sign of possible serious and disabling strokes. Research showed that about one in 20 people who have a TIA will have a major stroke within a few days and one in 10 will have one within 3 months.

From the data collected and released in 2010 by MHF, among 40 percent of the people whose waistlines exceeded the standard range, 70 percent of men and 60 percent of women, had abnormal blood pressure that could possibly lead to stroke. Such result showed the existence of a strong positive correlation between waistline and possibility of getting a minor stroke.

When people enter middle age, they will have their waistline increased by around 10 cm on average, the increase in probability of suffering a minor stroke will therefore amount to 20 percent. Once a person suffers a minor stroke, the chances that he or she would get a severe stroke afterwards is 10 times that of a person without a prior minor stroke.

In order to prevent stroke, MHF suggests people should limit their waistlines to a maximum of 90 cm for males and 80 cm for females.

Are People With Restless Leg Syndrome At Higher Risk of Heart Disease?

When a person has a strong, irresistible urge to move the legs that is often associated with an itching, tugging or gnawing feeling, he or she is said to have Restless Leg Syndrome (or in short, RLS).

When resting, the syndrome tends to worsen and this could cause a person difficult to fall or stay asleep. About 5 percent to 10 percent of adults have RLS, and some 80 percent of sufferers move their legs periodically during sleep.

A study, which was conducted by Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, revealed that people with RLS were twice as likely to have a heart disease or stroke and those having severe syndromes were at higher risk. In fact, the association of RLS with heart disease and stroke was strongest in those people having RLS symptoms at least 16 times per month. The finding was published on December 31, 2007 in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

3,433 men and women were enrolled in a sleep study with an average age of 68, and a detailed questionnaire indicated that nearly 7 percent of women and 3 percent of men in the study had RLS.

The researchers found that people with RLS were more than twice as likely to have heart disease or stroke, even after making adjustment for several risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, obesity and smoking.

While the results do not directly show that RTS can cause heart disease or stroke, the researchers argued that the periodic leg movements associated with RLS could well be a contributing factor.

According to the researchers, most people with RLS can have between 200 and 300 periodic leg movements per night of sleep. These leg movements are associated with substantial acute increases in both blood pressure and heart rate that may produce cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease over the long term. Moreover, sleep deprivation may also be linked to heart disease.

Incidentally, the research, which confirms several smaller studies, was also supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.