Mid-Life Stroke Hits Women Harder Than Men

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Ladies, forget the mid-life crisis.

Researchers find you should be more worried about having a mid-life stroke. Their results show women between ages 45 and 54 are more than twice as likely as men of the same age to have a stroke.

The investigators aren't sure what's causing this disparity between the sexes but suggest it could be related to increased waist size and coronary artery disease among women in this age group.

"While our analysis shows increased waist size and coronary artery disease are predictors of stroke among women aged 45 to 54, it is not immediately clear why there is a sex disparity in stroke rates among this age group," study author Amytis Towfighi, M.D., from the University of California at Los Angeles, was quoted as saying. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels also rose at higher rates in women as they got older, and could be playing a role as well.

Dr. Towfighi notes further study is needed to clarify these findings but believes the results show "this mid-life stroke surge among women suggests prompt and close attention may need to be paid to the cardiovascular health of women in their mid-30s to mid-50s with a goal of mitigating this burden."

Men didn't get off scot-free in the study, however. Results showed they had a higher risk of stroke between the ages of 55 and 64 than researchers expected.

The study was conducted among 17,000 people taking part in a large national health survey.

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SOURCE: Neurology, published online June 20, 2007