Understanding stroke
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 795,000 people in the United States experience a stroke each year. They can injure the brain and affect a person physically and emotionally. They can also affect thinking and behavior.
There are two major types of stroke:
- Hemorrhagic: Strokes caused by blood vessel rupture. This means that there is bleeding in or near the brain. Aneurysms and AVMs (arterioveneous malformations) are also types of conditions that cause bleeding in the brain. Hemorrhages account for about 13% of all strokes.
- Ischemic: Strokes caused by blood clots. The blood clot clogs the blood vessel so it becomes very narrow or completely blocks blood flow to the brain. They are the most common type and account for 87% of all strokes.
Lifestyle changes such as regular physical activity, healthy eating choices, following any recommended medication regimen, and abstinence from smoking may reduce the risk for stroke.
Symptoms
Here are some of the areas that doctors will check for potential stroke-related issues:
- Behavioral: Remaining calm, responding correctly in situations, starting new things, having relationships, and controlling impulses
- Cognitive: Memory, thinking, perceiving, judgment, doing tasks in the correct order, and understanding speech
- Emotional: Anxiety and depression
- Physical: Swallowing, speaking, vision, balance, coordination, bowel and bladder control, and moving certain body parts
Risk factors specific to women
- Atrial fibrillation (AFib): This heart condition doesn’t always have noticeable symptoms. Women represent 60%of AFib patients over age 75. A heart monitor can diagnose it. It is treated with blood thinners.
- Living to an advanced age: Women on average live longer than men. Regular health checkups and screening and treatment of hypertension, atrial fibrillation, high cholesterol, and diabetes are recommended.
- Migraine with aura: Aura refers to a variety of symptoms blind spots, zigzag patterns, prickly feelings on the skin, and flashing lights that occur up to 30 minutes before the onset of headache. Women with this disorder have a stroke 4 times as often as men. Oral contraceptives in combination with smoking increase the risk seven times as compared to women without these risks.
- Obesity: This condition affects 35% of women as compared to 32% in men. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more. Post-menopausal women are more likely to have abdominal obesity, which is associated with diabetes, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease, thus increasing the risk for stroke.
- Oral contraceptives: These medications, taken in combination with hypertension, high cholesterol, migraines, or smoking, increase the chance of blood clotting and strokes. If you’re planning to take oral contraceptives, guidelines suggest screening for hypertension and cholesterol, followed by any needed treatment. Patients who smoke should stop.
Sources
Centers for Disease Control, American Medical Association, European Society of Cardiology, BMJ Group