The NIH National Institute of Health and the NINDS National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, as well as the Spanish guidelines for the primary and secondary prevention of ictus,1classify the risk factors for this disease in unmodifiable, among them, age, male gender, African-American race and hereditary factors; and modifiable, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cigarette smoking, obesity, lack of physical activity, high blood cholesterol levels, sickle-cell disease, alcoholism, hormonal therapy, atrial fibrillation, carotid stenosis, left ventricular hypertrophy, hypercoagulation and prior strokes.
El NIH National Institute of Health y NINDS National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke así como las guías españolas de prevención primaria y secundaria de ictus, clasifican los factores de riesgo para dicha patología en no modificables tales como la edad, sexo masculino, raza afroamericana y factores hereditarios; y modificables como hipertensión arterial, diabetes mellitus, tabaquismo, obesidad, inactividad física, hipercolesterolemia, enfermedad de células falciformes, alcoholismo, terapia hormonal, fibrilación auricular, estenosis carotidea, hipertrofia ventricular izquierda, hipercoagulabilidad y eventos cerebrovasculares previos.