title: Predictors of stroke in the elderly.
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 Ostra University Hospital in Gothenburg. For comparison we used data from 2,009 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 less than 0.001), diabetes mellitus (21.8% vs. 6.2%, p less than 0.001) and a history of previous myocardial infarction (12.7% vs. 4.8%, p less than 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Ostra Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Himmelmann
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hansson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Harmsen
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Holmgren
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Svanborg
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects