Stroke-prevention advice is sex-specific

Just as heart attack symptoms may differ between men and women, so do stroke risks.

Now, 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.

The advice applies to patients like Denise Miller, who suffered a stroke last year that fooled doctors at two northeast Ohio hospitals before it was finally diagnosed at the Cleveland Clinic. She was 36 and had no traditional risk factors.

"There was nothing to indicate I was going to have a stroke," other than frequent migraines with aura - dizziness or altered senses such as tingling, ringing ears, or sensitivity to light, Miller said.

These headaches are more common in women and the guidelines issued Thursday flag them as a concern. Miller recovered but has numbness and vision problems.

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. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death for women and the fifth-leading cause for men. The keys to surviving one and limiting disability are getting help fast and recognizing symptoms such as trouble speaking, weakness or numbness in one arm, or drooping on one side of the face.

Stroke risk rises with age, and women tend to live longer than men. Women are more likely to be living alone when they have a stroke, to have poorer recovery, and to need institutional care after one.

Certain stroke risks are more common in women: migraine with aura, obesity, an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, and metabolic syndrome - a combination of problems including blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.

General guidelines for stroke prevention focus on controlling blood pressure and diabetes, quitting smoking, more exercise, and healthy diets. The new ones add gender-specific advice, said Cheryl Bushnell, stroke chief at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. She led the panel that wrote the guidelines, published in Stroke, a Heart Association journal.

Some highlights:

Birth control pills: Women should be checked for high blood pressure before starting on oral contraceptives.

Pregnancy: Strokes are uncommon during pregnancy but the risk is still higher, especially during the last three months and soon after delivery. The big worry is preeclampsia, dangerously high blood pressure that can cause a seizure and other problems.

Menopause: Hormone therapy should not be used to try to prevent strokes.