| February 20, 2009 | Media contact: Shantell Kirkendoll E-mail: smkirk@umich.edu Phone: 734-764-2220 |
Number of fast-food restaurants associated with stroke risk
What's unknown, researcher says, is whether strokes are caused by what's on the menu, or if restaurants are markers for unhealthy neighborhoods
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ANN ARBOR, Mich - The finding: Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that the risk of stroke increases with the number of fast-food restaurants in a neighborhood.
In the study, residents of neighborhoods with the highest number of fast-food restaurants had a 13 percent higher relative risk of suffering ischemic strokes than those living in areas with the lowest number of restaurants. The relative risk of stroke increased 1 percent for each fast food restaurant in a neighborhood.
The stroke risk association emerged from data gathered in the ongoing Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus, Christi (BASIC) project which has identified strokes occurring in Nueces County, Texas, since Jan. 1, 2000. The report examined 1,247 ischemic strokes that occurred from the study’s start through June 2003.
Implications: Neighborhoods with large numbers of fast food restaurants are prime areas for stroke prevention programs. Additional study needed to confirm correlation.
Study details: The findings were presented this week at the 2009 International Stroke Conference by Lewis Morgenstern, M.D., associate professor of neurology, emergency medicine and neurosurgery at the U-M Medical School and director of the U-M Stroke Program. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke funds the BASIC study.
Co-authors: James D. Escoba, M.P.H, Rebecca Hughes, Belinda G. Zuniga, Brisa Sanchez, Ph.D., Nelda Garcia, and Lynda D. Lisabeth, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health
Resources: An abstract and news release can be found at the American Heart Association Web site.
Stroke statistics: Each year about 780,000 people have a new or recurrent stroke. Of all strokes, 87 percent are ischemic, which result from a blocked artery in the brain or an artery feeding blood to the brain.
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