Gender Differences Found in Stroke Symptoms

A new study has found differences in the way men and women describe their symptoms of stroke, which may influence the way women receive emergency treatment for stroke. The study was published in the November 2002 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Researchers reviewed interview transcripts and medical information from 1,124 men and women who came to 10 rural and suburban hospitals in Texas between February 1998 and March 2000 with conditions that were later positively identified as acute strokes. Overall, 28% of women reported nontraditional stroke symptoms, as opposed to 19% of men. Men were more likely to report the traditional symptoms of imbalance and paralysis of one side of their body, while women were more likely to report nontraditional symptoms of pain and changes in consciousness or disorientation. Women were found to be 62% more likely than men to say they were feeling sensations that are not on the list of traditional stroke symptoms.

Since emergency responders often depend on patients' descriptions as well as the traditional symptom list when diagnosing and treating suspected stroke, women's symptoms may be overlooked during the few hours when stroke therapies work best, say the researchers, from the University of Michigan (U-M, Ann Arbor, USA) and the University of Texas (Houston, USA). This may help explain why women are often not treated as quickly as men.

"All stroke treatments are time-dependent, so if women are not diagnosed promptly, it will slow down the effort to treat them,” said senior author and U-M associate professor Lewis Morgenstern.




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