Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium Intakes and Risk of Stroke in Women

The authors examined the association between dietary potassium, calcium, and magnesium intakes and the incidence of stroke among 34,670 women 49-83 years of age in the Swedish Mammography Cohort who completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1997. The authors used Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate relative risks and 95% confidence intervals. During a mean follow-up of 10.4 years (1998-2008), 1,680 stroke events were ascertained, including 1,310 cerebral infarctions, 154 intracerebral hemorrhages, 79 subarachnoid hemorrhages, and 137 unspecified strokes. There was no overall association between potassium, calcium, or magnesium intake and the risk of any stroke or cerebral infarction. However, among women with a history of hypertension, potassium intake was inversely associated with risk of all types of stroke (for highest vs. lowest quintile, adjusted relative risk = 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.45, 0.92) and cerebral infarction (corresponding adjusted relative risk = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.38, 0.84), and magnesium intake was inversely associated with risk of cerebral infarction (corresponding adjusted relative risk = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.42, 0.93). Calcium intake was positively associated with risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (for highest vs. lowest tertile, adjusted relative risk = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.24, 3.35). These findings suggest that potassium and magnesium intakes are inversely associated with the risk of cerebral infarction among hypertensive women.