Stroke risk factors that need a solution

If you've read much of this blog, you've seen items about smoking, diet and other stroke risk factors. Click here to read a compilation.

But are you always in complete control of those risk factors? Or does just living in a poor neighborhood up stroke risk?:

Women and men of all races in the poorest neighborhoods were more likely to suffer a stroke than those in the richer neighborhoods. This held true even after the researchers adjusted for other factors such as age, race, sex and region of the country.

One possible reason is that people in poor neighborhoods are more likely to smoke than those in richer areas. They also have higher rates of high blood pressure and diabetes, which are linked to stroke, according to the researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

"Many social and behavioral risk factors, such as smoking and physical inactivity, are more prevalent in the less advantaged neighborhoods," said study author Virginia Howard. She's a professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at UAB.

 I've never seen anyone who's not important. So what's the solution?

(Photo from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)