The statistics on strokes are staggering. Each year, 15 million people around the world suffer a stroke--whether it's caused by a clot in one of the brain's blood vessels, or one of those blood vessels rupturing and hemorrhaging--and the United States accounts for almost 800,000 of those cases alone.
Stroke is the second-leading cause of death globally and the fifth-leading cause of death in America; there are millions of others who suffer a stroke and don't die but are left with lasting disabilities. Stroke is a major health-care issue, which is why a recent study in the medical journal The Lancet made the news. It stated that 90 percent of strokes worldwide are caused by 10 risk factors that are controllable--get rid of the risk factor, and the risk of stroke goes down exponentially. Here are the 10 risk factors, along with ways to reduce the risks and the potential risk reduction for each.
