CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 35, No 3, September – October 2024 AFRICA 139 260: 138–144. 9. Chandra HR, Goldstein JA, Choudhary N, O’’Neill CS, George PB, et al. Adverse outcome in aortic sclerosis is associated with coronary artery disease and inflammation. J Am Coll Cardiol 2004; 43(2): 169–175. 10. Uysal OK, Turkoglu C, Duran M, Pred Kaya MG, Sahin DY, et al. Predictive value of newly defined CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF score for severity of coronary artery disease in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. Kardiol Po. 2016; 74(9): 954–960. 11. Hindricks G, Potpara T, Dagres N, Arbelo E, Bax JJ, et al. 2020 ESC guidelines for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for CardioThoracic Surgery (EACTS). Eur Heart J 2021; 42(5): 373–498. 12. Nagueh SF, Smiseth OA, Appleton CP, Byrd BF, 3rd, Dokainish H, et al. 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Med Clin North Am 2017; 101(1): 7–17. Excess kilos in teen years can double later stroke risk: Finnish study Women who were overweight or obese as teenagers or young adults had more than a two-fold increased risk for stroke before 55 years, suggest researchers, even if that excess weight was temporary. An analysis of more than 50 years of health data on 10 000 adults revealed that close to 5% experienced a stroke during the follow-up period, with the risk for ischaemic stroke being more than twice as high in women who were obese when they were teens or young adults. The risk was even higher for haemorrhagic stroke in both men and women with a history of obesity in youth, reports Medscape. ‘Our findings suggest that being overweight may have longterm health effects, even if the excess weight is temporary,’ said lead author Ursula Mikkola, BM, an investigator in the Research Unit of Population Health at the University of Oulu, Finland. She said healthcare professionals should pay attention to obesity in young people and work with them to develop healthier eating patterns and physical activity. ‘Such conversations about weight, however, should be approached in a non-judgemental and non-stigmatising manner,” she added. The study was published online in Stroke. Gender differences Childhood obesity has been associated with a heightened risk for cerebrovascular disease later in life, but most studies have focused on body mass index (BMI) at a single timepoint without considering its fluctuations throughout life, the investigators noted. For the study, investigators used data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, a prospective, general populationbased birth cohort that followed 10 491 individuals (5 185 women) until 2020 or the first stroke, death, or moving abroad, whichever came first. Mean (SD) follow up for each participant was 39 years from age 14 years onward and 23 from age 31 years onward. The analysis was conducted between 1980 and 2020. BMI data were collected from participants at the age of 14 and 31 years. Age 14 covariates included smoking, parental socio-economic status, and age at menarche (for girls). Age 31 covariates included smoking and participants’ educational level. During the follow-up period, 4.7% of participants experienced stroke. Of these events, 31% were ischaemic strokes and 40% were transient ischaemic attacks. The remainder were haemorrhagic or other cerebrovascular events. continued on page 159…
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