Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States and affects 15 million people worldwide. Studies performed in various parts of the world have found differences between sexes in stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, and outcomes. Although men are at higher risk of stroke for most age groups below age 85 years, after this age the incidence reverses dramatically, with women being much more at risk. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that women have worse recovery than men post-stroke. Many aspects of recovery may influence this outcome, including sex-specific comorbidities, aggressiveness of acute treat-ment, prevention therapies, and varying degrees of social support and rates of depression. It is important to further define and investigate sex differences in stroke incidence, care, treatment, and outcomes to improve functional recovery in women.

Comments

Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 April 30. Published in final edited form as: Curr Cardiol Rep. 2010 January; 12(1): 6–13.
doi: 10.1007/s11886-009-0080-2. PMCID: PMC2861793
NIHMSID: NIHMS191719

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