Carrying some extra weight could be a good thing when it comes to ischaemic stroke, according to a US study, which has found overweight and obese patients are more likely to survive than slim people.

The researchers analysed data from more than 1000 patients to see if the obesity paradox theory — that being overweight is protective for older patients with some conditions — holds true for ischaemic stroke.

They followed the participants, with an average age of 71, for three months and found that the risk of death after a stroke increasingly reduced across the normal weight through to the severely obese BMI categories.

Severely obese patients were 62% less likely to die than normal weight people post-stroke, according to the study that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in May.