Strokes are currently the third most common cause of death in the United States, says the American Heart Association. Approximately 80 percent of them are ischemic, meaning that they caused by a blockage of an artery, according to The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library. Since hypertension, or high blood pressure, and blood clots are the leading causes of ischemic stroke, it is crucial to know how these two conditions develop.
History of Heart Problems
Every heart attack causes a patient to develop scars on the heart. This decreases the ability of the heart muscle to contract and pump blood around the body, causing the body to circulate less oxygen. Generally, having one cardiovascular illness tends to increase person's chances of developing additional cardiovascular illnesses. For example, having hypertension often contributes to the formation of blood clots. Having any kind of damage happen to the inner walls of blood vessels can expose the collagen beneath the surface. The World Health Federation says that this often leads to thrombosis, or the formation of blood clots. Turbulent flow is widely associated with conditions like hypertension, thrombosis, heart attacks and heart valve damage. According to the World Health Federation, it can destroy the walls of blood vessels.
Lifestyle Factors
The way a person lives life has a tremendous effect on the heart and cardiovascular system. Factors such as being overweight, smoking, living a sedentary life, and having a poor diet can all contribute to the formation of hypertension and blood clots, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and the World Heart Federation. These two conditions may take years to develop and often have very few symptoms before becoming evident through a drastic event, such as a heart attack. This makes regular checkups and preventative measures crucial, especially if a patient has a family history of heart disease or related problems. The World Heart Federation recommends managing known heart conditions, regular exercising, keeping within a normal weight, and refraining from smoking to prevent the formation of blood clots. People with more severe conditions may even need to take daily aspirin or other anti-clotting drugs to manage their condition.
Genetic Traits and Conditions
The risk for heart-related conditions is heightened in certain ethnic groups. Being African American, for example, increases a patient's chance of suffering a fatal stroke or heart attack by 1.8 and 1.5 times, respectively, says HealthCentral. It also reports that 30 to 60 percent of the time, family history plays some role in developing hypertension. Often, conditions like hypertension lead to the formation of blood clots and other conditions. The World Heart Federation reports that some inherited propensities can make a patient's blood more "sticky." People with this type of genetic trait have blood that is more prone to clot and therefore increases their chance of developing conditions like cancer, thrombosis, vascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
