Published online May 16, 2015. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v3.i5.418
Peer-review started: August 12, 2014
First decision: September 16, 2014
Revised: January 14, 2015
Accepted: February 10, 2015
Article in press: February 12, 2015
Published online: May 16, 2015
Processing time: 274 Days and 15.7 Hours
Timely diagnosis and control of cardiovascular risk factors is a priority objective for adequate primary and secondary prevention of acute stroke. Hypertension, atrial fibrillation and diabetes mellitus are the most common risk factors for acute cerebrovascular events, although novel risk factors, such as sleep-disordered breathing, inflammatory markers or carotid intima-media thickness have been identified. However, the cardiovascular risk factors profile differs according to the different subtypes of ischemic stroke. Atrial fibrillation and ischemic heart disease are more frequent in patients with cardioembolic infarction, hypertension and diabetes in patients with lacunar stroke, and vascular peripheral disease, hypertension, diabetes, previous transient ischemic attack and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in patients with atherothrombotic infarction. This review aims to present updated data on risk factors for acute ischemic stroke as well as to describe the usefulness of new and emerging vascular risk factors in stroke patients.
Core tip: Prevention of acute stroke by controlling cardiovascular risk factors is a health care priority worldwide for a number of reasons, particularly due to the increasing occurrence of acute cardiovascular events in progressively older segments of the population, the high morbidity and mortality of some stroke subtypes and the economic burden associated to care of acute stroke patients. The frequency of the different cardiovascular risk factors is not equal for all subjects diagnosed of first-ever stroke. For this reason, it is necessary to know the most common profiles of vascular risk factors associated with each individual type of stroke in order to improve primary and secondary stroke prevention strategies. The role of new risk factors, such as sleep-disordered breathing or complex atheromatosis of the aortic arch merits further investigation.