AHA Issues First Stroke Guidelines for Women

A new guideline from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association is the first to focus solely on the stroke risk factors unique to women.

With these new guidelines, researchers hoped to expand upon the information given in previous guidelines that focus on both sexes.

After studying the previous recommendations and determining which information was lacking, the group created guidelines associated with issues like pregnancy, postmenopausal hormone therapy, and oral contraception, as well as issues that have greater impact on women, like migraine with aura, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and atrial fibrillation.

The recommendations included:

• To reduce risk of preeclampsia, women who are pregnant and have chronic hypertension or a history of pregnancy-related hypertension should take low-dose aspirin.

• Calcium supplementation should be considered for women with low dietary intake of calcium (<600 mg/d) to prevent preeclampsia.

• Women with cerebral venous thrombosis should undergo routine blood studies, including blood count and activated partial thromboplastin time.

• Women beginning hormonal contraception should first undergo blood pressure measurements.

“There is a need for recognition of women’s unique sex-specific stroke risk factors, and a risk score that includes these factors would thereby identify women at risk,” researchers concluded.

“Until sex-specific risk is better understood, prevention and management of stroke and cardiovascular risk factors remains essentially the same for men and women.”

–Michael Potts

Bushnell C, McCullough LD, Awad IA, Chireau MV, et al. Guidelines for the Prevention of Stroke in Women [Published online before print February 6, 2014] doi: 10.1161/01.str.0000442009.06663.48