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(Stroke. 2009;40:1027.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Stroke in Women

An Evolving Topic

From INSERM Unit 708-Neuroepidemiology (T.K.) and Pierre et Marie Curie University (T.K.), Paris, France; the Division of Preventive Medicine (T.K.), Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass; and Service de Neurologie (M.G.B.), Hôpital Lariboisière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, and Diderot University (M.G.B.), Paris, France.

Correspondence to Tobias Kurth, MD, ScD, INSERM Unit 708-Neuroepidemiology, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France. E-mail tobias.kurth@upmc.fr

Key Words: minorities • risk factors • women

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

See Go Red for Women section.

Stroke in women is a major health issue that has long been neglected but is now attracting more and more attention.¹ Many aspects of stroke are similar in men and women, including clinical presentation, neuroimaging data, main subtypes, and acute treatment. The major conventional risk factors are also the same.² There are, however, some gender differences and specificities in stroke epidemiology, etiologies with specific causes, risk factors, and preventive treatments, as well as differences in the social impact.

One third of strokes occur among individuals <65 years of age,³ but stroke in women is an ongoing epidemic because of the sharp increase in stroke incidence with increasing age, the rapidly aging population, and the greater longevity of women. Projections indicate that the prevalence and incidence of stroke will increase by 2020 in both genders, but that these figures are magnified in women.⁴ By 2050, mortality from stroke will be 30% higher in women than men, a figure driven by the age group >85.⁵ It should also be noted that the social impact of stroke is greater in women because women have poorer functional outcome after stroke with more physical and cognitive impairment, more depression, more limitations in active daily living, and lower quality of life.⁵ Furthermore, many older women, particularly in wealthy countries, are socially isolated: 8 million women versus 2.7 million men in the United States.⁶

Earlier in life, causes and risk factors for stroke differ widely according to gender and age; however, . . . [Full Text of this Article]