Heart Disease in Women is a very important, unique and exciting topic. This article is a part of a series that focuses on the special problems of Heart Disease in Women. You can find the others in the archives.
Stroke represents a significant healthcare burden for our society.
The overall prevalence of stroke is higher in men than in women but increases with age in both gender groups. Although the lifetime risk of stroke is higher in men, women are more likely to die of stroke. This is probably due to the older age of women at occurrence of stroke the longer life expectancy of women Risk Factors for stroke Many identifiable risk factors for stroke in both men and women have been fairly consistent over different studies. In black women the risk of developing hypertension is more than twice that of white women. Treatment or control of high blood pressure in women may not offer the same protection against stroke that it does in men, and further studies are needed to specifically address treatment issues in women.