Among young adults, women 44% more likely to have ischemic stroke vs. men

 And as a young adult you really don't want to have a stroke because of all the problems diagnosing young adult strokes.

Factors Associated With Misdiagnosis of Acute Stroke in Young Adults

Pediatric Stroke Often Misdiagnosed, Treatment Delayed

Younger Stroke Patients Often Misdiagnosed

 

 Among 821 consecutive patients admitted to an acute stroke unit, the initial diagnosis of stroke proved incorrect in 108 (13%)

Amy on her 36 hour wait for a diagnosis.

The latest here:

Among young adults, women 44% more likely to have ischemic stroke vs. men

Issue: March 2022

By Erik Swain

Perspective from Gina Lundberg, MD, FACC

Source/Disclosures

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In adults aged 35 years or younger, women were 44% more likely to have an ischemic stroke compared with men, according to a systematic review.

The study was published in a Go Red for Women spotlight issue of Stroke.

Data were derived from Leppert M, et al. Stroke. 2022;doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.121.037117.

Sharon N. Poisson

“Our finding suggests that strokes in young adults may be happening for different reasons than strokes in older adults. This emphasizes the importance of doing more studies of stroke in younger age groups so that we can better understand what puts young women at a higher risk of stroke,” Sharon N. Poisson, MD, MAS, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Colorado, Denver, said in a press release. “Better understanding which young adults are at risk for stroke can help us to do a better job of preventing and treating strokes in young people.”

Poisson and colleagues conducted a systematic review to determine sex differences among young adults with ischemic stroke.

The review included 19 studies of adults aged 45 years or younger, 16 of which concerned ischemic stroke. Of those, nine found no difference by sex in ischemic stroke rates in people aged 45 years or younger, three found a higher rate of ischemic stroke in men among people aged 30 to 35 years and four found a higher rate of ischemic stroke in women among people aged 35 years or younger.

When the researchers analyzed adults from all 16 studies aged 35 years or younger, they determined that women were 44% more likely to have an ischemic stroke compared with men (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.18-1.76; I² = 82%), but when they analyzed adults from all 16 studies aged 35 to 45 years, they found no difference by sex in ischemic stroke likelihood by sex (IRR = 1.08; 95% CI, 0.85-1.38; I² = 95%).

“The sex difference in the incidence of ischemic strokes was the greatest and most evident among adults younger than age 35 years, with an estimated 44% more women, though there is notable heterogeneity in this effect,” Poisson and colleagues wrote. “This sex difference narrows among adults ages 35 to 45 years, and there is contradictory evidence whether young men may be more at risk of ischemic strokes in this age group.”

Reference:

• Women ages 35 and younger are 44% more likely to have an ischemic stroke than male peers. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/women-ages-35-and-younger-are-44-more-likely-to-have-an-ischemic-stroke-than-male-peers. Published Jan. 24, 2022. Accessed Jan. 24, 2022.

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