BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have developed a tool for predicting personalized 10-year and lifetime stroke risks among Chinese adults, which will facilitate the identification and prevention of the disease in China.

Risk assessment is essential for the primary prevention of stroke. However, most of the currently available tools for predicting stroke such as the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile are developed from data of western populations. There is a lack of risk prediction models that could be applied to the individualized stroke risk assessment in the general Chinese population.

Researchers from Fuwai Hospital under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences developed the prediction tool for assessing 10-year and lifetime stroke risk based on data collected from more than 21,000 Chinese adults and validated the tool with data from more than 80,000 Chinese people.

The prediction tool takes into consideration risk factors including an individual's age, gender, blood pressure, smoking habits, diabetes, and cholesterol levels. It also considers risk factors with Chinese characteristics including urbanization and geographic regions.

Validation showed that the tool has better prediction capability for the Chinese population compared with the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile.

According to Gu Dongfeng, the lead researcher, strokes have been one of the leading causes of deaths in China and have created a heavy burden.

"An accurate and easily-used risk assessment tool is essential as it will enable identification of high-risk individuals and facilitates proper management of stroke risk factors," Gu said.

The research article was published online in the journal Stroke.