Stroke is a woman's disease, too - Overweight couch potatoes with high blood pressure.

Stroke is a woman's disease, too

By Peggy Peck
United Press International
Published 2/6/2004 10:32 PM


SAN DIEGO, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- About 700,000 Americans will have a stroke this
year and odds are most of them will be overweight couch potatoes with high
blood pressure and early signs of diabetes -- and a good number of them will
be women.

Women have a one-in-five lifetime risk of of stroke, while the equivalent
risk for men is one in six, Dr. Sudha Seshadri, assistant professor of
neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, told United Press
International. That is almost twice a woman's lifetime risk for breast
cancer, which is estimated at one in nine. "What this means is that
stroke -- just like heart disease -- is a women's disease," she said.

Using data from the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, Seshadri was able to
present the first snapshot of lifetime stroke risk for Americans. She
collected data from 5,000 middle-aged, stroke-free volunteers in the study.
The volunteers were followed every two years for up to 40 years or until
they were diagnosed with a first stroke, she said. Seshadri presented her
findings at the 29th International Stroke Conference.

During follow-up, 859 of the volunteers suffered a first stroke and most of
those strokes -- 86 percent -- were caused by blood clots that cut off the
blood supply to the brain.

In addition to lifetime risk, Seshadri's team calculated short term risk by
10-year intervals: at ages 55, 65, 75 and 85. The risk was higher for women
at age 55, about the same for men and women at ages 65 and 75, but at age
85, "the risk for stroke risk for women was 16 percent, while for men it was
just 9 percent."

She women -- and men as well -- can reduce their stroke risk significantly
by keeping their blood pressure under control. "That means a blood pressure
of less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic," she said. "So instead
of a one in five chance a woman would have about a one in 10 chance."

The lesson, said Seshadri, is women need to pay as much -- and possibly
more -- attention to stroke risk factors than men do.

"Controlling blood pressure and avoiding smoking are especially important,"
she said.

Beyond smoking and high blood pressure, stroke recently has been linked to a
group of risk factors called the metabolic syndrome. Components of the
metabolic syndrome include a waist measurement of more than 40 inches for
men and more than 35 for women, blood pressure of 130/85 milligrams of
mercury, or mmHg, or higher and high triglycerides or low HDL -- the
so-called good cholesterol.

Evidence of the syndrome also includes not metabolizing sugar properly --
considered a pre-diabetic state -- elevated levels of blood-clotting
factors, and elevated C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker found in
the blood and considered a sign of heart disease.

A person showing at least three of these risk factors meets the criteria for
metabolic syndrome.

Stroke expert Dr. Edgar J. Kenton III, a clinical professor of neurology at
Thomas Jefferson University in Wynnewood, Pa., told UPI that high blood
pressure accounts for about 60 percent of strokes, but added he thinks
metabolic syndrome could explain most of the other 40 percent as well.

Dr. Bernadette Boden-Albala of Columbia University in New York said an
ongoing study of almost 3,300 residents of the city suggest metabolic
syndrome is responsible for "35 percent of strokes seen in Hispanics. That
means that if we could eliminate the metabolic syndrome in this population
we could reduce the number of strokes by 35 percent."

Likewise, a second study from the Framingham researchers found metabolic
syndrome was responsible for about 20 percent of the strokes in the mostly
white study population.

Not everyone is convinced emphasizing risks associated with the metabolic
syndrome is an effective preventive strategy, however.

Dr. George Howard, professor and chairman of the department of biostatistics
at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, told UPI not all risk factors
are equal.

"We know high blood pressure is the 800 pound gorilla of stroke," he said,
explaining that high blood pressure is probably the most significant risk
factor.

The metabolic syndrome, Howard continued, gives equal weight to all risk
factors "but says that if you have more than three of these factors, that is
a problem." He said he suspects that, taken together, these risk factors add
up to trouble and he is worried people will walk away with a false sense of
security if they have "only one or two risk factors."

Howard noted he is significantly overweight himself, "and that is a real
risk for me," but "I have a good risk profile if you consider the other risk
factors." He added he knows he cannot afford to overlook his weight problem
simply because "my blood pressure is good."

Considering that 5.2 million people worldwide died of stroke in 2001, Howard
said, "we need to treat all risk factors."

--
Ken

"I want to tell you about a school in Houston. It's a school for 'at risk'
children.
In other words, folks, these are children who can't learn."

- G.W. Bush, presidential debates

Ken Kubos wrote:

|
| SAN DIEGO, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- About 700,000 Americans will have a stroke this
| year and odds are most of them will be overweight couch potatoes with high
| blood pressure and early signs of diabetes -- and a good number of them
| will be women.

This is very amusing to me. When I had a brain stem stroke in 1998, I was
very active, physically fit, the right weight for my height, and had no sign
of diabetes. Oh, and I'm a man. I guess I really am a freak!

--
Peter
website: http://users.thelink.net/marengo

On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 00:42:31 -0500, "marengo"
marengo(at)thelink.net(change at to @ to reply) tripped the light
fantastic, then quipped:

Ken Kubos wrote:

|
| SAN DIEGO, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- About 700,000 Americans will have a stroke this
| year and odds are most of them will be overweight couch potatoes with high
| blood pressure and early signs of diabetes -- and a good number of them
| will be women.

This is very amusing to me. When I had a brain stem stroke in 1998, I was
very active, physically fit, the right weight for my height, and had no sign
of diabetes. Oh, and I'm a man. I guess I really am a freak!

I'm overweight (caused by Prednisone) but far from obese. I'm a
wheelchair pilot, but that doesn't mean I lie around and veg (though I
have bad lupus days where I have to stay in bed). My blood pressure
averages 85/90 without the benefit of any medication, and I'm not a
diabetic. I've had several strokes, though, due to blood clots.
About the only applicable fact from this article is that I'm a woman.
I didn't see the rest of th article, but it seems to be overly
generalized.

Tee
http://www.geocities.com/tee_king
Remove -no-spam- to email me.