'Mind your risks' especially important for high-risk populations

The best way to "treat" a stroke is to prevent it. This is from someone who had one.

Of course, not every stroke is preventable. Mine was a cryptogenic stroke. But the great majority are preventable, and here's an item about efforts in the area of racial disparities in stroke:

"The prevalence of hypertension is higher in blacks, but its impact is even greater in the black population. An increase of 10mmHg in blood pressure is associated with an 8 percent increase in stroke risk among whites but a 24 percent increase in stroke risk in blacks," said Dr. Walter Koroshetz, director of NINDS.

What are your blood pressure numbers? And what number seems like a good idea?

Still more about the quest for blood pressure target numbers- this time, how that the gray area for high blood pressure can make risky targets of women and minorities:

Stroke risk is lower for healthy older adults with blood pressure under 140 mm Hg than in the disputed 140 to 149 mm Hg range, particularly for minorities and women, according to a cohort study.

In the prospective population-based Northern Manhattan Study cohort of 1,750 people 60 and older, and free of stroke, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) at baseline, the adjusted odds of incident stroke over a median 13 years of annual follow-up were a significant 70% higher with a systolic blood pressure of 140 to 149 mm Hg than with lower blood pressures.

Link between depression, stroke risk among black Americans

Racial disparity is a longstanding issue in health care. A study showing the need for more research and action linked depression among black Americans and stroke risk:

The study, based on the ongoing Jackson Heart Study in Jackson, Miss., included more than 3,300 blacks between 21 and 94 years old who were screened for depression. None of the participants had a history of heart attack or stroke.

But more than 22 percent had major depression at the start of the study, and over the course of 10 years, they had a higher risk of heart disease (5.6 percent vs. 3.6 percent) and stroke (3.7 percent vs. 2.6 percent) than those without depression, the researchers found.

Participants with depression were more likely to be women, have chronic health problems, get less exercise, have lower incomes, smoke, and have a higher body mass index (BMI), an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.

You've seen other news about depression as related to stroke risk, too. It's a series issue for all of us. And, perhaps, particularly an issue for some populations.