Stroke risk tied to cold, humidity, weather swings
February 13, 2014
There may be a link between weather and the risk of suffering a stroke, say researchers who analyzed climate trends and hospital records on millions of Americans.

Cold weather, high humidity and big daily temperature swings seem to land more people in the hospital with strokes. As it got warmer, risk fell - 3 percent for every 5 degrees, the study found.

"Maybe some of these meteorological factors serve as a trigger," said Judith Lichtman, a Yale University stroke researcher who led the study. With global climate change and extreme weather like this week's freak storm in the South, "this could be increasingly important," she said.

Lichtman and colleagues from Harvard and Duke universities gave results of their study Wednesday at the American Heart Association's International Stroke Conference in San Diego. It is the largest and most detailed research on this issue.

Each year, about 800,000 Americans have a stroke. Most are due to clots that block a blood vessel to the brain, and high blood pressure is a major risk factor.

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Posted by Ken at 4:50 AM