Research uncovers possible links to stroke risk

MILWAUKEE (MCT) — What can a person's daytime napping habits, a woman's mammogram or migraine headaches tell them about their risk of having a stroke?

Possibly, quite a bit.

New research findings have pinpointed the seemingly unrelated measures as possible clues to stroke risk.

One of the more surprising studies involves a condition known as benign arterial calcifications, a fairly routine, nonmalignant finding that can show up on a mammogram.

Physicians had considered these calcifications harmless, but over the last several years a number of studies have suggested that they might be signs of an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

A recent retrospective analysis now finds a significant association between the condition and stroke in women, especially women ages 40 to 60.

The study looked at mammograms of 204 women ages 40 to 90 who later suffered a stroke. It compared those with a baseline group of mammograms from other women who did not have heart disease or diabetes.

Analysis showed a high correlation between having benign arterial calcification and stroke risk.

For women ages 40 to 50, the risk was 13 times greater. For ages 50 to 60, the risk was eight times. From 60 to 70, the risk was 4.5 times. For those over the age of 70, the risk was about three times greater.

"What do we do about this?" said study co-author Paul Dale, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. "Up to now, we've done nothing."

Dale said the research suggests that when calcium deposits are found in the blood vessels of the breast it may be a sign of calcification of the arteries supplying blood to the brain.

"We know it occurs in heart disease," he said.

With tens of millions of mammograms being done every year in the U.S., doctors say the research presents a potential new way to use the tests, said Jeffrey Binder, a neurologist who practices at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, Wis.

A finding of calcification, especially in women under 60, should warrant additional checks for stroke risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, said Binder, a professor of neurology at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

In some cases, it might even be advisable to order an ultrasound imaging test of the carotid artery, he said.