Middle-aged U.S. women seen with higher stroke risk

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. women ages 45 to 54 face more than double the risk of stroke than men the same age, researchers said on Wednesday, noting that obesity in these women may be partly to blame.

The researchers tracked 17,000 people from 1999 to 2004, including 1,117 men and 1,155 women in this age group. They found that the women 45 to 54 were 2.39 times more likely to have had a stroke than men.

"We need to increase awareness among both health care professionals and the general public regarding the increasing prevalence of stroke in this age group in women," Dr. Amytis Towfighi of the University of California at Los Angeles, the lead author of the research, said in a telephone interview.

"Aggressive control of modifiable risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol will help to mitigate the burden of stroke," Towfighi added.

No such difference between the sexes was seen in the two other age groups the researchers studied -- 35 to 44 and 55 to 64. ...more