“What are the risk factors associated with a stroke?”

There are many risk factors, the main ones are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and old age. The most important treatment is to keep his blood pressure ideal, not too high, but then again not too low. 
Best wishes.

Regards,

Gerald Lewis, MD

The greatest risk factor for stroke is lack of regular physical exercise, it was recently identified as a greater risk than even hypertension, which is the next strongest risk (a risk that can also be substantially improved with regular exercise). Atrial fibrillation (A-Fib), an irregular heart rhythm that develops relatively often with age, is also a serious risk for stroke, because the small chamber (called atrium) of the heart does not contract efficiently as a result of atrial fibrillation, and therefore blood stagnation ensues in the left atrium, upstream from the brain arteries. Indeed, a blood clot can form in the atrium due to A-Fib, and small fragments of the clot can be dislodged and migrate to the brain arteries where they can cause a blockage in a small brain artery, such as the Middle Cerebral Artery, leading to stroke symptoms. Elevated cholesterol is not a risk factor for stroke, although a family of cholesterol lowering medications, called statins, have been shown to reduce the risk of stroke for your father. The other risk factors for stroke include smoking, diabetes, and others. So, if your father, or you, smoke, stop! Initiate a carefully crafted daily exercise routine, your father should seek advice from a care provider to initiate an incremental physical exercise routine, while minimizing risk. Your father must be tested to rule out A-Fib (he probably was already), and so do you if you have an irregular heart beat at times. Your father should be on a medication regimen, which may include a statin, anti-hypertensive, anti-clotting medications, etc.