Sex gap reported in risk for strokes

Women in the United States are more than twice as likely as men to suffer a stroke by middle age, according to a study that cites self-reporting by adults. The finding, the first evidence of a sexual divide in stroke at any age, was unexpected by the scientists, who can't explain the gap.

In a survey in which more than 15,000 adults in households responded to a question about strokes, 606 people, or 4 percent, reported suffering one, the researchers said Wednesday in the online edition of the journal Neurology. The victims included 2.5 percent of women ages 45 to 54, compared with 1 percent of men of the same age, the scientists found.

Middle-aged women face stroke risks that men don't, including the use of oral contraceptives and hormone replacements, the researchers said. While females, like males, also may suffer strokes because of heart illness or obesity, the mid-life gap in stroke risk was unexpected and its cause isn't known, said the study's lead author, Amytis Towfighi.

"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," said Towfighi, a neurologist at the Stroke Center of the University of California, Los Angeles.

The people in the survey were asked to recall whether a physician had ever told them that they had experienced a stroke.

The findings suggest women in their 30s, 40s and 50s need to do more to maintain their cardiovascular health, Towfighi said in a statement.

Men accounted for 51 percent of the total strokes in the survey. The majority of strokes in both men and women occur at the age of 65 or older, the researchers said.

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is blocked or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Atlanta. Stroke is third-leading cause of death in the nation, killing more than 160,000 people each year, according to the agency.