Stroke Archive

A 2025 study found that a pill version of the drug semaglutide, marketed as Rybelsus, can lower the risk for serious heart problems in people who have diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, or both.

People with very high calcium scores (over 1,000) have a risk of heart attack or stroke similar to those who have already had a heart attack. They should take cholesterol-lowering drugs to bring down LDL levels and possibly undergo additional testing.

Older people with atrial fibrillation are sometimes advised to stop taking clot-prevention drugs due to fears about bleeding. But a 2025 study suggests that the risk of stroke and heart attack from stopping the drugs outweighs the risk of bleeding.

About 25% of people have a common heart variant called a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a flaplike opening between the heart's upper chambers. In people with the condition, venous blood can leak across the heart from the right atrium to the left atrium, bypassing the lungs. If that blood contains a clot, it can travel directly to the arteries that send blood throughout the body. A stroke can occur if that clot lodges in an artery supplying the brain. In people prone to blood clots, a PFO raises the risk of stroke and dementia.

Strokes fall into two main categories: ischemic (which result from a blockage inside one of the brain's arteries and account for 87% of all strokes) and hemorrhagic (also known as bleeding strokes, usually from a ruptured blood vessel). Three main types of ischemic strokes are those that result from atherosclerosis in a large artery supplying the brain (large-artery atherothrombotic strokes); those caused by clots in the heart that travel to the brain (cardioembolic strokes); and those in the brain's smallest vessels (small-vessel strokes).

Using tobacco in cigars, pipes, or smokeless products such as snuff is associated with distinct heart-related risks.

A 2024 study involving more than 72,000 healthy people ages 40 to 79 found that those whose sleep and wake times fluctuated most had a 26% higher risk of having a heart attack, stroke, or similar problem, compared with those whose sleep patterns fluctuated least.