title: Ideal cardiovascular health metrics and the risks of ischemic and intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies showed an inverse association between ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics and the total risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ideal CVH metrics and the risks of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  We collected information on the 7 ideal CVH metrics (including smoking status, body mass index, dietary intake, physical activity, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose) among 91 698 participants from the Kailuan study, China (72 826 men and 18 872 women between the ages of 18 and 98 years), free of myocardial infarction and stroke at baseline (2006-2007). Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate stroke risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 4-year follow-up, we identified 1486 incident stroke events (1057 ischemic, 386 intracerebral hemorrhagic, and 43 subarachnoid hemorrhagic). The hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for total stroke with adherence to 0 (reference), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6/7 ideal CVH metrics were: 1, 0.92 (0.69-1.23), 0.69 (0.52-0.92), 0.52 (0.39-0.68), 0.38 (0.28-0.51), 0.27 (0.18-0.40), and 0.24 (0.11-0.54), respectively (P trend <0.01), after adjusting for age, sex, education, income, and hospital. Similar inverse associations were observed for both ischemic and intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke (both P trend <0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed a clear inverse gradient relationship between the number of ideal CVH metrics and the risk of stroke in a Chinese population, supporting the importance of ideal health behaviors and factors in stroke prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Chunxue
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shufeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Anxin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Liheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Shouling
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xingquan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cardiovascular health; epidemiology; prevention & control; stroke