Does carrying extra weight offer better survival following a stroke?
The findings, which appear in the Journal of the American Heart Association , adds to the 'obesity paradox' seen in previous studies where increased body weight appears to have a protective effect on certain groups of patients. A stroke occurs when blood flow to an area of the brain is cut off and brain cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. Each year about 185,000 people die from a stroke, the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. and a leading cause of adult disability. A group of participants from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) were followed over time, including measuring their body mass index (BMI) prior to their stroke. The researchers then matched these stroke cases to other FHS participants of similar age, sex and BMI category (normal weight, overweight or obese). They then separately analyzed both groups to see if overweight or obesity had any effect on survival over 10 years, compared to the people who were normal weight. "We found that partici...