Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) reviewed data from national health studies completed by some 15,300 U.S. adults between 1999 and 2004 and found that men in the oldest group were three times more likely to have a stroke than men who were middle-aged.
However, there were no gender differences in the stroke rates for people 35 to 44 or 55 to 64, the researchers found. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability for U.S. adults.
Though the chances of having a stroke are greatest at old age, there are chances that many middle-aged or young adults also suffer from stroke if they are obese and overweight.
Fox News quotes study author Amytis Towfighi with the Stroke Center and Department of Neurology at the University of California at Los Angeles as saying, "While further study is needed, this mid-life stroke surge among women suggests prompt and close attention may need to be paid to the cardiovascular health of women in their mid-30s to mid-50s with a goal of mitigating this burden."
While some of the major factors contributing to stroke among women aged 45 to 54 are increased waist size and coronary artery disease, the researchers are still not able to find the reason behind the gender difference in stroke rates among this age group.
The researchers also cautioned that as the woman ages, she becomes more susceptible to several risk factors, including systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol, as compared to men of the same age group.
A report on the research was published in the June 20 online edition of the journal Neurology.
