High cholesterol in women raises stroke risk, study says

Healthy women with no history of heart or artery disease face a significantly increased risk of stroke if they have high cholesterol levels, a new study found.

"Our findings underscore the importance of cholesterol levels as a risk factor for stroke, even if you have no history of heart disease and are otherwise healthy," said Dr. Tobias Kurth, a researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and lead author of the study published in the journal Neurology.

Cholesterol is a waxy substance the body uses to transport fat through the blood, and too much of one particular low-density type is known to promote clogging of the arteries. On the other hand, having higher levels of high-density cholesterol is thought to make for healthier arteries, apparently helping to clear the bad type from the blood.

The 11-year study involved women from the United States and Puerto Rico who were part of the Women's Health Study run through Brigham and Women's. All were health-care professionals who were at least 45 years of age with no history of major illness.

Cholesterol levels were taken at the beginning of the study, and over the follow-up period, 282 women suffered strokes, meaning that nine out of every 10,000 women in the study had a stroke each year.

"Our findings show otherwise healthy women with high cholesterol were more than twice as likely to suffer a stroke compared to healthy women with lower cholesterol levels," Kurth said.

"This strongly supports the notion that cholesterol levels are a biologic risk factor for stroke and that avoiding unfavorable cholesterol levels may help prevent stroke."

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