Stroke Prevention in African Caribbean and South Asian communities

Risk factors for stroke

• Diabetes

There are over two million people in the U.K with type 2 diabetes and up to one million people who do not know they have the condition. Type 2 diabetes is up to six times more prevalent in African Caribbean and South Asian communities.

Diabetes can increase the risk of stroke.

• High blood pressure

People from African Caribbean communities are more likely to have high blood pressure or hypertension. Although the high blood pressure statistics for people from South Asian communities are not so clear, the risk of having stroke is still high.

High blood pressure is often called the ‘silent killer’ as it does not always have any symptoms. It is the single biggest risk factor for stroke but many people don’t even realise they have it. Even if they do, they don’t always know the link to stroke or even know what a stroke is (542 kb) .

Download free posters to raise awareness of high blood pressure within African Caribbean and South Asian communities.

• Unhealthy diets

It is difficult to go a day without seeing healthy eating messages around us. Having a healthy diet not only reduces risk of stroke, but a number of other conditions including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

African Caribbean and South Asian diets are often high in saturated fats and salt, which are both unhealthy if eaten on a regular basis. Research has shown that too much salt can lead to higher blood pressure.

The government has been working towards lowering national consumption of salt and has recommended a maximum intake of six grams of salt a day for each person. Most of us have a lot more than this without even knowing.

Adding all in one seasoning often found in African Caribbean foods, not being aware of how much salt goes into cooking, deep frying foods and eating lots of high fat, sugary or processed foods can all increase risk of stroke.

In 2008, The Stroke Association worked alongside students from The London School of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure in Ealing to produce a set of recipe cards. The recipes are all easy to follow and when combined with other lifestyle changes, can help reduce the risk of stroke.

A new set of African Caribbean and South Asian inspired recipes are also available to order and download from this page.

• Smoking

Smoking significantly increases the risk of stroke by up to three times. As part of the work carried out raising awareness of stroke in the Bangladeshi community, the stroke prevention officer invited a local ‘stop smoking’ service. The aim was to highlight the link between smoking and stroke and provide a local contact service that could help people if they wanted to quit smoking.

The Health Survey for England  showed that self reported cigarette smoking prevalence was 40% among Bangladeshi men compared to 24% among men in the general population.

To find out more about the Asian stop smoking service, visit www.quit.org.uk/languages.php  or call 0800 00 22 00 to find the language specific quit lines.

• Medication

The prevention project has also seen cases of people not taking their blood pressure medicines regularly or taking the wrong medication for a variety of reasons.

Some people felt that once their blood pressure was under control, they no longer needed to take their medication. Others were visiting herbal doctors because they felt there were too many side effects to the conventional medication they were on, or were forgetting to take their medicine when going on holiday.

It is important to highlight that medication should not be stopped without speaking to your doctor. If you are having side effects you must speak to your doctor about this so an alternative can be found. If you suddenly stop taking your medication, your blood pressure may fluctuate dangerously.

If you are unsure of which medication you should be taking, or if you are unsure of the dosage, you should ask your doctor to write this down for you.

Possible barriers

Not being able to communicate in English can mean many people do not access information about stroke. As part of a previous project, The Stroke Association translated its ‘Preventing a stroke’ leaflet into five South Asian languages which are available to order and download free of charge.

For those people that do not read the language they speak, audio cd translations are also available.

‘I visited a group of Afghani ladies in West London who did not understand a lot of English. This was the first time someone had spoken to them about stroke. One lady started crying because her mother had died of stroke two years previously. She wished she had known at that time what signs to look out for” says Homaira.

It is not only language issues that can prove to be barriers to accessing information. Homaira has often come across people who do not feel comfortable asking their GP lots of questions for fear of taking too much of their time. 

Others forget what to ask their GP once at the surgery and accept when they are told they don’t need to know what the numbers mean on their blood pressure readings.

Homaira advises people to write down any questions they may have before going in for their appointment and that asking questions is the only way to find out about and take control of your health.

Many people have personal experiences of stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes among family or friends, but it is important to stress that stroke can be prevented.

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