Approved Research

Identifying dietary risk factors of stroke and stroke-related diseases.

Lay summary

Stroke continues to be one of the leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide, and several diseases are involving in the process of stroke. For example, hyperlipidemia can accelerate to develope cerebral and precerebral atheroslerosis, finally causing ischemic stroke, and the rupture of intracranial aneurysm will lead to subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is a subtype of hemorrhagic stroke. Studies reported that stroke is caused by multiple preventable factors, including lifestyle and behaviors as dietary habits and nutrition intakes. However, specific patterns and underlying mechanisms remain to be investigated for prevention of the diseases. 

This study is to explore potential dietary risk factors of stroke and stroke-related diseases. The primary aim is to identify the dietary risk factors associated with overall stroke and its subtypes (including ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke and its subtypes of intracranial hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage), as well as stroke-related diseases, and quantify their effects, therefore providing evidence for developing actionable interventions for stroke prevention. The main outcomes are overall stroke, specific subtypes of stroke, stroke-related diseases, and the related hospitalization and death. Potential factors include different dietary habits, as well as levels of nutrition and calorie intakes.

Additionally, we apply to extend the scope of this research to identify comprehensive effects from dietary factors and other risk factors, including genetic factors, environmental factors, behavioral and metabolic factors, to further understand their roles in target diseases. Besides the diseases, neuroimaging phenotypes are another important outcomes altered with exposure degrees of risk factors. We also want to identify the associations between the dietary risk factors and different neuroimaging phenotypes.