NEW guidelines for preventing stroke in women were published online ahead of print February 6
in Stroke.
“If you are a woman, you share many of the same
risk factors for stroke with men, but your risk is also influenced by hormones, reproductive health, pregnancy,
childbirth, and other sex-related factors,” said Cheryl
Bushnell, MD, lead author of the guidelines. Dr. Bushnell
is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of
the Stroke Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Pre-Eclampsia Increases Stroke Risk
The guidelines describe stroke risks that are unique
to women, and the authors provide evidence-based
recommendations on how to reduce these risks. They
suggest, for example, that women with a history of high
blood pressure before pregnancy be considered for low-
dose aspirin or calcium supplement therapy to lower the
risk of pre-eclampsia.
Because women with pre-eclampsia have twice the
risk of stroke and a fourfold risk of high blood pressure
later in life, the guidelines recommend that pre-eclampsia be recognized as a risk factor well after pregnancy.
Physicians should evaluate women with pre-eclampsia
within one year of giving birth, and, based on their individual and family risk factors, possibly treat them for
cardiovascular risk factors. Other risk factors
such as smoking, high cholesterol, and obesity in
these women should be treated early, according to
the authors.
New Guidelines Focus on
Reducing Strokes Among Women
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continued on page 4
Magnesium Treatment
11 Outcomes in Stroke
Switching From Branded to 12 Generic AEDs Causes Concern
Thrombosis Risk Remains High
20 Three Months After Giving Birth
New Autoimmune Encephalitis
21 With Refractory Seizures Is Identified
Obesity at Age 20 Is Linked
23 to Increased Risk for MS
Therapeutic Hypothermia
24 for Perinatal Stroke
Two Alzheimer’s Disease Drugs
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