Modifying risk factors such as high blood pressure and cigarette smoking reduces the incidence of stroke, coronary heart disease and peripheral vascular disease.
Many people also believe that high blood cholesterol is a risk factor for stroke.
The American Heart Association, however, has not identified high blood cholesterol as a risk factor for stroke. The strength of the association between high cholesterol level and stroke is less than that between blood pressure or smoking and stroke. While elevated blood cholesterol levels have been formally established as a risk factor for coronary heart disease, the relationship between blood cholesterol level and stroke incidence is less well established. Coronary heart disease risk clearly increases as blood cholesterol increases. These curves are named for the shape of the line produced when findings are plotted on a graph.