Midlife Strokes Most Common in Women
Perceived lack of risk might be hindering needed actions

(HealthDay News) -- Women were once thought to be somewhat immune to serious cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks and stroke, until well past midlife.

But a review of data has called that belief into question.

Among people 45 to 54 years old, in fact, women were twice has likely to have a stroke as were men, reported Dr. Amytis Towfighi, of the Stroke Center and Department of Neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and lead author of the study.

An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked, depriving that area of blood and oxygen. In a hemorrhagic stroke, a blood vessel in the brain bursts, causing bleeding and also depriving an area of the brain of blood and oxygen.

Risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, known heart disease, uncontrolled diabetes and narrowed arteries, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.

For the study, the UCLA researchers sifted through data on 17,000 people enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. More than 600 had a history of stroke.

The researchers found no difference in the rate of strokes between men and women for those under 44 or over 55. But, among those 45 to 54 years old, they found that women were more than twice as likely to have had a stroke. The findings were published in the journal Neurology .

The study also tried to tease out what factors might be causing the higher rate in women.

"We found that the independent predictors of stroke in women of that age group were coronary artery disease and waist circumference," Towfighi told HealthDay . "For example, while men's blood pressure rises four to five points each year in the midlife years, women's blood pressure increases by eight to 10 points."

"Risk factors for women are not being as adequately controlled in middle-aged women," she said. "This might be because these women were not perceived to be at high risk for stroke and, also, a lack of awareness of controlling risk factors by women and primary-care physicians."

Dr. Emil Matarese, a spokesman for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, said the data "certainly question what we previously thought of as fact: that middle-aged men, simply by being men, are at greater risk of stroke."

However, he said, more study is needed to explain the disparity.

"This is a wake-up call for the health-care community, regardless of whether the statistics here are adequate to make long-term conclusions," said Matarese, who is director of the Stroke Center at Saint Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Pa. "This is a wake-up call to start looking at women in a more aggressive manner and to start reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke."

On the Web

To learn more about women and strokes, visit the American Heart Association.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Amytis Towfighi, M.D., Stroke Center and Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles; Emil Matarese, M.D., national spokesman, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, and director, Stroke Center, Saint Mary Medical Center, Langhorne, Pa.; June 20, 2007, online issue, Neurology ; American Academy of Family Physicians (www.familydoctor.org)
Author: Serena Gordon
Publication date: June 30, 2008
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