Study links proximity to fast-food restaurants and stroke risk

(CNN) - A person's risk of stroke is directly associated with the number of fast-food restaurants near their residences, according to a study presented Thursday at a stroke conference in San Diego, California.

Researchers led by Dr. Lewis B. Morgenstern at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor counted 1,247 strokes caused by blood clots in 64 census tracts in Nueces County, which includes Corpus Christi, Texas, from January 2000 through June 2003.

They also mapped the county's 262 fast-food restaurants and then adjusted for socio-economic status and demographics and found a statistically significant association.

"The association suggested that the risk of stroke in a neighborhood increased by 1 percent for every fast-food restaurant," the authors wrote in a poster presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference.