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Women Have More Mid-Life Strokes Than Men

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 21:00 CDT

Women age 45 to 54 were more than twice as likely to have a stroke as men the same age, say U.S. researchers.

There were no gender differences in the stroke rates for people 35 to 44 or 55 to 64, but men in the oldest group were three times more likely to have a stroke than men who were middle-aged, according to a study done at the University of California at Los Angeles.

While our analysis shows increased waist size and coronary artery disease are predictors of stroke among women age 45 to 54, it is not immediately clear why there is a sex disparity in stroke rates among this age group, said lead author Amytis Towfighi.

Towfighi said several risk factors, including systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol, increased more among women than men as they aged.

For instance, with each decade, men's blood pressure increased an average of four to five points, whereas women's blood pressure increased by eight to 10 points. Similarly, men had significantly higher total cholesterol levels than women at age 35 to 44, but men's total cholesterol remained stable while women's total cholesterol increased by 10 to 12 points with each decade, so that by age 55 to 64, women had significantly higher total cholesterol than men.

The team analyzed data on 17,000 adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A report on the research was published in the June 20 online edition of the journal Neurology.

Source: United Press International

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