Stroke Prevention Guidelines Issued Specifically For Women

The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association recent issued guidelines to help doctors and patients recognize stroke risk factors that put women at particular risk for the condition. The author of the statement published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke, explains that although women share many of the same risk factors as men, a woman’s risk is also influenced by hormones, reproductive health, pregnancy, child birth and other gender-related factors. Other risk factors more common in women than in men include migraine with aura, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, depression and emotional stress. The new stroke guidelines stress how more focus needs to be geared towards women when scientific studies are conducted in the medical community. Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death in men, and the third-leading cause of death in women; with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking as shared risk factors. To read more about the stroke guidelines, click here.