Strokes 'may be linked to temperature', study finds

Conclusion This retrospective study reports that there is an association between lower temperature and increased humidity and a slightly increased risk of ischaemic stroke. It was a large study, but there are several major limitations of this study design: The temperature was matched with discharge dates. There is a wide variation in the length of hospitalisation after a stroke, so the temperature at discharge may be very different to the temperature when the stroke occurred. The researchers assumed that changes in outdoor air temperature would have been experienced by all of the people who suffered from a stroke. It is possible that many people were indoors at the time, with either air conditioning or heating on to create normal ambient conditions. It is not clear how the researchers adjusted for region or season when performing the analyses. The data was collected retrospectively, which leaves it open to bias and confounding. No results were provided for whether the presence of other illnesses had an effect on the results. Overall, this study does not change the commonsense advice for vulnerable people to try to avoid extremes of temperatures. It also remains important to reduce proven risk factors for ischaemic stroke, including: optimal treatment of conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease making changes to smoking status, poor diet, physical inactivity and obesity Read more advice about reducing your risk o...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Source Type: news