While diabetes is treatable, having it increases a person's risk of stroke. People with diabetes often also have high cholesterol and are overweight, increasing their risk even more. The carotid arteries in your neck supply blood to your brain. If you have a diseased carotid artery, your healthcare provider may hear an abnormal sound in your neck called a bruit when listening with a stethoscope. In fact, people with heart problems have more than twice the risk of stroke as those with hearts that work normally.
Heart attack is also the major cause of death among survivors of stroke.
They are strong predictors of stroke. A person who has had one or more TIAs is almost 10 times more likely to have a stroke than someone of the same age and sex who hasn't. The reason is that more red blood cells thicken the blood and make clots more likely. Geographic location - Strokes are more common in the southeastern United States than in other areas. The age-adjusted death rate from stroke is much higher in these states than in the rest of the country.