Cardiovascular risk factors for acute stroke: Risk profiles in the different subtypes of ischemic stroke

Core Tip

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.