Researcher
finds growing Gender Gap in Stroke
Prevalence
Newswise — When it comes
to stroke prevalence, it appears that the
gender gap is widening. According to a new
report from a researcher at the Keck School
of Medicine of the University of Southern
California (USC), women between the ages of
35 and 64 are almost three times more likely
to have a stroke compared to men in the same
age group.
“Although midlife women’s
blood pressure and lipid profiles are better
than men’s, they have significantly higher
rates of abdominal obesity, which may be
driving this trend,” said Amytis Towfighi,
M.D., assistant professor of neurology at
the Keck School of Medicine, and the
principal investigator of the study.
The investigators first
reported on the evolving gender difference
in rates of midlife stroke three years ago.
An analysis of stroke
prevalence in the United States from 1999 to
2004 found that women ages 45-54 were twice
as likely as men to report having had a
stroke.
In the current study, the
researchers analyzed data from the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys
2005-2006 (NHANES), a cross-sectional sample
of 10,348 adults in the U.S. The data
included 2,198 men and women aged 35-64.
The investigators found
that women in the age group were almost
three times more likely than men of the same
age to report having had a stroke (2.9
percent vs. 1.07 percent).
A comparison of vascular
risk factors showed that women had better
than average blood pressure, homocysteine
and triglyceride levels than men, but women
were more likely to have abdominal obesity
(61.9 percent vs. 50 percent).
Abdominal obesity is a
known predictor of stroke in women and may
be a key factor in the midlife stroke surge
in women, Towfighi said.
Independent stroke risk
factors for women also included: elevated
homocysteine (amino acid in the blood)
levels, history of heart attack and diabetes
mellitus.
“Further investigation is
needed to understand this apparently
evolving sex disparity in midlife stroke
prevalence,” Towfighi said. “Better
management of stroke risk factors such as
coronary artery disease, diabetes and
abdominal obesity may help mitigate this
worsening trend in women’s health.”
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