People who live with long-term stress may have a higher risk of stroke, according to a new study published in Neurology. The research focused on younger adults and found that women under stress were more likely to have a stroke with no known cause.
However, this link was not seen in men. It’s important to note that the study does not prove that stress causes strokes—it only shows a possible connection.
“Younger adults often deal with stress from work, long hours, job insecurity, and financial problems,” said Dr. Nicolas Martinez-Majander from Helsinki University Hospital in Finland. “We already know that chronic stress can harm both physical and mental health, and our study suggests it may also increase stroke risk in younger women.”
How the Study Was Conducted
Researchers studied 426 people between the ages of 18 and 49 who had experienced an ischemic stroke—this happens when blood flow to the brain is blocked, which can cause weakness, trouble speaking, vision problems, or even death. Each stroke patient was matched with a healthy person of the same age and sex for comparison.
To measure stress levels, participants answered a survey about their experiences over the past month. Stroke survivors completed this questionnaire after their stroke, reflecting on the month before their stroke happened.
The survey included 10 questions, such as, “How often have you felt that you could not control important things in your life?” Participants rated each question from 0 to 4, with 4 meaning “very often.”
Stress scores were categorized as follows:
- Low stress: 0 to 13 points
- Moderate stress: 14 to 26 points
- High stress: 27 to 40 points
On average, people who had a stroke scored 13, while those without a stroke scored 10.
Key Findings
The study found that stroke patients were more likely to have moderate or high stress levels. Among those who had a stroke:
- 46% had moderate or high stress
- 33% of those without a stroke had moderate or high stress
After adjusting for other risk factors like education level, alcohol use, and blood pressure, researchers found that stress levels affected women’s stroke risk in the following ways:
- Moderate stress was linked to a 78% higher risk of stroke
- High stress was linked to a 6% higher risk of stroke
Surprisingly, moderate stress had a stronger connection to stroke than high stress. The researchers did not find any significant link between stress and stroke in men.
What This Means
Dr. Martinez-Majander said more research is needed to understand why stress seems to affect women’s stroke risk more than men’s. It’s also unclear why moderate stress showed a stronger connection to stroke than high stress. Future studies could help doctors develop better ways to prevent stress-related strokes.
One limitation of the study is that people with high stress may have been less likely to participate, which could have affected the results. However, the findings highlight the need to pay more attention to stress as a possible stroke risk factor, especially for younger women.
The research findings can be found in Neurology.
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