March 19, 2018
Stroke; A Journal of Cerebral Circulation
TAKE-HOME MESSAGE
- The authors of this literature review summarize woman-specific stroke risk factors, such as hormones, estrogens, and pregnancy. In addition, age at menarche and menopause impacts the stroke risk in women. Unique in this paper is a discussion of exogenous estrogen and testosterone for transgender individuals.
- Pregnancy and both endogenous and exogenous hormones all appear to be associated with an increased stroke risk, with the exception of testosterone (both endogenous and exogenous) and progestogen-only contraceptives.– Mona Bahouth, MD
Abstract
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in women in the United States and is a leading cause of disability. Each year 55 000 more women than men have a stroke, a discrepancy largely driven by longer life expectancy in women (www.stroke.org). Although the majority of stroke incidence can be attributed to traditional vascular risk factors that occur in both men and women, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, smoking, and atrial fibrillation, there are several stroke risk factors that are specific to women. Specifically, differences in sex hormones, exogenous estrogens, and pregnancy exposures are factors exclusively experienced by women. In this review, we will summarize the current state of the literature with regards to women-specific factors, such as endogenous hormone levels, exogenous hormone therapy, pregnancy, parity, timing of age at menarche, and menopause in relation to stroke risk.
Journal Reference
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