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| Photo by bottled_void from Flickr |
I was in a stressful situation - by my own making and ambition - when my stroke happened. Did that increase my risk?
A bit of an unanswerable question at this late date, but there's some research that might indicate a link that a high strain job increases stroke risk:
The association between exposure to high job strain and an increased risk of stroke was particularly pronounced in ischemic stroke and in women but not in hemorrhagic stroke or in men, according to Dingli Xu, MD, of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China, and colleagues. ...
In an accompanying editorial, Jennifer J. Majersik of the Stroke Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT, pointed out that none of the six studies included in the meta-analysis adjusted for vascular risk factors or captured measures of inflammation and metabolism. As a result, there may be unmeasured factors mediating stroke risk, she said.
"Once there is further clarity on this issue, high job strain may be considered an independent stroke risk factor -- and one that is potentially modifiable," she wrote.
In the meantime, Majersik said she answers patients' questions about whether stress caused their stroke with a definite "Maybe."
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