Search resultsHigh level of education, healthy diet and moderate consumption of alcohol are associated with lower odds for first-ever ischemic stroke in hospital based case-control study in Varaždin County, Croatia
Croatia, a Central European middle-income country, has the highest incidence of first-ever stroke in Europe. Th is prompted us to search for preventable and/or treatable risk factors for ischemic stroke. We performed a case-control study of first-ever ischemic stroke. Cases were patients with first-ever ischemic stroke. Controls were free from stroke and were matched to patients. All participants or their proxies were asked to fill in a questionnaire. Biometrics and laboratory values were collected. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for the association of stroke with selected risk factors. We enrolled 219 stroke cases from Varaždin General Hospital and 144 hospital and community controls. Th e risk factors significantly associated with higher odds for stroke were atrial fibrillation (OR 10.35, 95% CI 3.96-27.06) and current smoking (OR 4.53, 95% CI 1.45-14.17). Arterial hypertension was not associated with higher odds for stroke. Protective factors were education higher than high school (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.15-0.89), healthy diet (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.18-0.89), high HDL cholesterol (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.06-0.33) and in the second model without adjustment for laboratory values alcohol intake of 1-30 drinks per month (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.29-0.89). Anticoagulant therapy for atrial fibrillation, promotion of more healthy diet patterns and smoking cessation seem to be the targets for prevention of ischemic stroke in the population of Varaždin County, Croatia.