Just as heart-attack symptoms might differ between men and women, so do stroke risks.
The American Heart Association has issued its first guidelines for preventing strokes in women. They focus on birth control, pregnancy, depression and other risk factors that women face uniquely or more frequently than men do.
Each year, nearly 800,000 Americans have a new or recurrent stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel to the brain is blocked by a clot or bursts.
The new guidelines add gender-specific advice:
• Women should be checked for high blood pressure before starting on oral contraceptives because the combination raises stroke risks.
• Strokes are uncommon during pregnancy, but the risk is higher.
• A low-dose aspirin every other day “can be useful” to lower stroke risk in women 65 and older unless its benefit is outweighed by the potential for bleeding or other risks.
• Migraines alone don’t raise the risk of stroke, but ones with auras do. Using oral contraceptives and smoking raise this risk even more.
