Overweight in Teen Years may Lead to Higher Stroke Risk for Women by 55

The study, conducted in Finland, shows that women who were overweight or obese at 14 or 31 had a higher chance of having a stroke later
Our findings suggest that being overweight can have long-lasting effects, even if it’s just for a short time. (Representational image: Pixabay)
Our findings suggest that being overweight can have long-lasting effects, even if it’s just for a short time. (Representational image: Pixabay)
Published on

Women who carry extra weight as teenagers or young adults are at a higher risk of having an ischemic stroke before age 55, a new study by the American Heart Association reveals. The research, published in the journal Stroke, analyzed over 50 years of health data and found significant links between early excess weight and stroke risk in women.

An ischemic stroke, the most common type, happens when a blood vessel to the brain gets blocked. The study, conducted in Finland, shows that women who were overweight or obese at 14 or 31 had a higher chance of having this kind of stroke later, even if they lost weight by 31. Men didn't show the same increased risk for ischemic strokes, but men with obesity at 31 had a higher chance of bleeding strokes compared to women.

“Our findings suggest that being overweight can have long-lasting effects, even if it’s just for a short time,” said Ursula Mikkola, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Oulu in Finland. She emphasized that health professionals should help young people with weight issues develop better eating habits and exercise routines without making them feel judged.

Our findings suggest that being overweight may have long-term health effects even if the excess weight is temporary. Healthcare professionals should pay attention to overweight and obesity in young people and work with them to develop healthier eating patterns and physical activity. However, conversations with teens and young adults about weight should be approached in a non-judgmental and non-stigmatizing manner. By living a healthy lifestyle (eating better, not smoking, healthy sleep, managing blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose levels, avoiding excess alcohol use, and being physically active), you can lower your risk of stroke even if you were overweight when you were younger. Stroke at a young age is rare, so the difference of just a few strokes could have an outsized impact on the risk estimates. Also, BMI relies solely on a person's height and weight. Therefore, a high BMI may be a misleading way to define obesity, especially in muscular people who may carry little fat even while weighing more
Ursula Mikkola, B.M., Research Unit of Population Health, University of Oulu, Finland
Healthcare professionals should pay attention to overweight and obesity in young people and work with them to develop healthier eating patterns and physical activity. (Representational image: Unsplash)
Healthcare professionals should pay attention to overweight and obesity in young people and work with them to develop healthier eating patterns and physical activity. (Representational image: Unsplash)

The research pulled data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, which included over 12,000 pregnant women from northern Finland. These women’s offspring, now in their 50s, have been part of many health studies. For this study, the researchers used body mass index (BMI) measurements at ages 14 and 31 to see if there was a difference in stroke risk based on weight.

About 1 in 20 participants experienced an ischemic stroke or a mini-stroke during the follow-up periods of almost 39 years from age 14 and almost 23 years from age 31. Women who had obesity at 14 were 87% more likely to have an early stroke, while those with obesity at 31 were 167% more likely compared to women with a normal weight. Women with obesity at 31 also had nearly 3.5 times the risk of a bleeding stroke, whereas men with obesity at 31 had over 5.5 times the risk.

Other factors like smoking, education levels, and age at the first menstrual period for women were considered in the analysis. However, the study couldn't prove a direct cause-and-effect link between weight and early stroke risk because it was observational. Additionally, the findings might not apply to people outside Finland.

Larry Goldstein, a member of the American Heart Association Stroke Council, noted in an accompanying editorial that while this study shows a link between overweight or obesity and stroke in young adults, it's not yet proven that reducing weight in young people will lower stroke rates.

This study provides additional evidence of an association between overweight/obesity and stroke in young adults. However, while it is tempting to assume that reductions in overweight/obesity in younger populations would translate to lower stroke rates in young adults, this remains to be proven
Larry Goldstein, M.D., FAHA, American Heart Association Stroke Council Member and Chair of the Department of Neurology and Co-Director of the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute, University of Kentucky HealthCare in Lexington, Kentucky

Mikkola highlighted that living a healthy lifestyle, eating well, not smoking, getting enough sleep, managing blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar, avoiding too much alcohol, and staying active can help lower stroke risk, even if someone was overweight when they were younger.

This long-term study included 10,491 participants, with BMI measurements taken at ages 14, 31, or both. The researchers used national hospital and death registers to track strokes and adjusted for various factors like smoking and education.

(Inputs from various sources)

(Rehash/ Susmita Bhandary/MSM)

Our findings suggest that being overweight can have long-lasting effects, even if it’s just for a short time. (Representational image: Pixabay)
Diarrhoea Outbreak: 32 New Cases Reported in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur
logo
Medbound
www.medboundtimes.com