Middle-Aged Women and Stroke

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

18 Sep 2008 05:34 PM

According to the American Stroke Association, more than one hundred thousand women in the United States under the age of sixty-five have a stroke each year. Compare that to the approximately 83,000 American women who suffer a heart attack!

Most strokes occur when a clot blocks blood flow to the brain. There is another type of stroke that is comparably rare -- a blood vessel in the brain bursting. If you're going to worry about stroke (and you should), focus your worry on those clots.

More statistics from the American Stroke Association:

• Stroke risk is highest in women between the ages of forty-five and fifty-four -- women are more than twice as likely as men to have a stroke.
• Women are more likely than men to end up physically and mentally impaired after a stroke.
• Speed is critical in treating a stroke -- a drug known as tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) can help reduce a stroke victim's chance of death or lifelong disability, but only if administered within the first three hours.
• One out of seven stroke patients has another stroke within a year.

So why doesn't stroke prevention get as much attention as heart disease prevention? Hopefully it will soon.

Some important signs of stroke risk for women:

• High cholesterol -- this can encourage plaque to build up in the arteries... and plaque can become a clot that induces a stroke.
• High blood pressure -- this also encourages plaque build up. Most strokes are caused by a clot blocking blood flow to the brain.
• Using birth control -- this can double the risk of a stroke.
• Smoking -- this can double the risk of a stroke.
• Using hormone therapy to relieve menopause symptoms can slightly increase stroke risk.
• Sleep apnea -- this can raise blood pressure during sleep, encouraging plaque build up.
• Migraine with aura -- this doubles the risk of stroke in women under fifty-five, though experts aren't sure why.
• Blood clotting disorders -- if you tend to form blood clots (like DVT), you can be at higher risk of stroke.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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