Even a slight increase from your normal blood pressure can put you at a higher risk for stroke, as a new review of studies have found.
The researchers, led by Dr. Dingli Xu, a blood pressure researcher at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, analyzed the medical data pertaining to 760,000 people, and found the people with blood pressure that's higher than 120/80 mmHg, but lower than the high blood pressure threshold of 140/90 mmHg were 66 percent more likely to develop a stroke than people with a normal blood pressure reading.
People with blood pressure that's higher than 120/80 mmHg, but lower than the high blood pressure threshold of 140/90 mmHg are considered "prehypertensive." The threshold for hypertension is 140/90 mmHg.
The study, published in the journal Neurology, has found that the strokes that were recorded in the study occurred among people who were prehypertensive, even after the researchers ruled out other risk factors such as cholesterol levels, diabetes, and smoking.
Researchers also studied the prehypertensive group more closely, and found that those who had blood pressure levels greater than 130/85 mmHg had a 95 percent higher risk of stroke, compared with people with normal blood pressure levels. Those who were were least prehypertensive had 44 percent higher risk of stroke compared with people with normal blood pressure.
The key is to detect and treat prehypertension before it wreaks more havoc on the body.
"Considering the high proportion of the population who have higher than normal blood pressure, successful treatment of this condition could prevent many strokes and make a major difference in public health," said Xu.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 795,000 Americans suffer from a stroke every year. Of this number, almost 130,000 die from stroke annually, accounting for 1 out of ever 19 deaths. An American dies of a stroke every 4 minutes.
The risk for having a stroke usually doubles for each decade between the ages of 55 and 85. However, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has reported that over the past 20 years, there has been a 25 percent increase in the incidence of strokes in adults between 20 and 64 years old.
Signs of a stroke include, "Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arms or legs, sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding others, sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes, sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination, and sudden severe headache with no known cause," said the NINDS.
To help keep the risk of stroke at bay, individuals are advised to keep one's blood pressure low, keep weight in check, exercise regularly, drink moderately, and quit smoking, among others.
