A study by the University of Colorado has found that women are more likely than men to experience a stroke. Women from 18 to 45 were at more significant risk of ischemic stroke.
An ischemic stroke is defined as an obstruction in an artery that cuts off the brain’s supply of oxygen and nutrients. Minutes after ischemia, the neural cells start to die. Plaque, a fatty build-up, or a blood clot is the most common reason for ischemia.
Young adults have strokes for different reasons
According to the University of Colorado’s associated professor of neurology and a co-author of the study, Sharon N.Poisson, the team realized that younger adults often suffer strokes for different reasons. For this reason, researchers need to conduct more studies on strokes in young patients as this could help them identify the cause of strokes in young women.
Dr. Poisson adds that scientists need to know what increases the likelihood of stroke in younger people as it would enable them to prevent their occurrence.
How researchers conducted the study
The team evaluated different studies on sex differences for strokes in young adults. These studies took place between 2008 and 2021. Moreover, they reviewed different types of stories, such as cryogenic strokes, mini-strokes, transient ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic strokes, and ischemic strokes. However, nearly 87% of them focused on ischemic strokes.
They focused their research on 16 studies. These studies gave them a sample size of 69739 young people. These included 36,018 young men and 33,775 young women. The researchers found that in groups with women below 35, they were 44% more likely to suffer from ischemic strokes than men.
The team also found that when the participants were between 35 and 45, there were fewer sex differences regarding the likelihood of developing a stroke. The team is still unsure of the reason behind these differences. They speculate that it could be due to hormonal contraceptives, postpartum, and pregnancy.
The team notes that they need to conduct more studies to confirm the reason behind the sex differences. Furthermore, they want to create awareness about how more women than men have strokes each year.
