Stroke: Healthy Male Weight Changes and Long-Term Risks of Stroke and Death

The importance of weight changes to stroke risk is not yet clearIn a recent study published in The Journal of Cardiovascular Disease, Stroke, researchers followed healthy men for long periods of time to clarify the relationship between changes in weight in youth and middle age and the risk of stroke and deathresearchers recruited healthy men between the ages of 40 and 59 to conduct cardiovascular assessments at baselines and 7 years, respectivelyThe researchers collected data on weight changes (changes in youth weight) since the age of 25 and measured weight changes (middle-aged weight changes) from baseline to 7 years of follow-upDuring the two weight changes, the participants were divided into the following categories: weight loss, weight gain of 0 to 4.9 kg, weight gain of 5 to 9.9 kg, weight gain of 10 kgThe researchers collected stroke and death data for up to 35 years from follow-up, hospital records, and the National Registry of Causes of Death, and used Cox regression to analyze the relationship between changes in weight and stroke and death risk in youth and middle ageof the 2014 participants had data on early weight changes, with an average follow-up time of 30.1 years, while 1,403 participants had data on middle-aged weight changes, with an average follow-up time of 24.6 yearsIn youth, those who gained 5 to 9.9 kg of weight had a stroke risk ratio of 1.46 (95% CI 1.09-1.95), and those who gained 10 kg had a risk ratio of 1.39 (95% confidence interval of 1.03 to 1.87), compared with 1.46 (95 9.9 9 9.9 9The risk ratio for all-cause deaths was 1.08 (95% CI 0.92-1.23), 1.14 (95% CI 0.98-1.33) and 1.29 (95% CI 1.06-1.56)In middle age, there was no significant difference in the risk of stroke or death between groupsshows that weight gain in young healthy men, rather than middle age, is associated with an increased long-term risk of strokeIf these results are confirmed, efforts to prevent weight gain should be targeted at young people