Prior to popular belief, sex may not necessarily be an independent risk factor for stroke mortality, according to new research published in Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders.
The study included nearly 9,000 stroke patients who received care from 2004 to 2019. Data came from the Geisinger Neuroscience Ischemic Stroke research database and represented a predominantly rural patient population.
The authors did note that women appeared to experience strokes at an older age, and atrial fibrillation and heart failure were both more common among women in their analysis. Also, the estimated survival rates after five years were 63.3% for women and 65.7% for men.
After controlling for all comorbidities, however, the survival rates between men and women appeared to be equal.
“Our study results indicate that women may have higher crude mortality after stroke; however, sex is not an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality in the rural communities that Geisinger serves,” co-author Vida Abedi, PhD, a scientist in the department of molecular and functional genomics for the Geisinger Health System, said in a prepared statement. “Ischemic stroke recurrence and the composite outcome of stroke recurrence or death also did not demonstrate evidence of a sex disparity.”
These findings, the researchers explained, “call into question the previously identified role that sex plays in predicting stroke outcomes.”
“Further efforts to understand why a sex difference is present in some cohorts but was not present in this population are needed before definitive therapeutic and clinical implications can be deduced,” the authors wrote. “Sex differences might exist with regard to disability after stroke in this population and this is an important area of future research. It will also become increasingly important to reach a consensus on what the most accurate and acceptable manner of analysis is in this field of research.”
Read the full analysis from Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.