Strokes Among Middle-Aged Women Triple

Doctors Blame Obesity Epidemic For Increase

(AP)  Strokes have tripled in recent years among middle-aged women in the U.S., an alarming trend doctors blame on the obesity epidemic.

Nearly 2 percent of women ages 35 to 54 reported suffering a stroke in the most recent federal health survey, from 1999 to 2004. Only about half a percent did in the previous survey, from 1988 to 1994.

The percentage is small because most strokes occur in older people. But the sudden spike in middle age and the reasons behind it are ominous, doctors said in research presented Wednesday at a medical conference.

It happened even though more women in the recent survey were on medicines to control their cholesterol and blood pressure — steps that lower the risk of stroke.

Women's waistlines are nearly two inches bigger than they were a decade earlier, and that bulge corresponds with the increase in strokes, researchers said.

In addition, women's average body mass index, a commonly used measure of obesity, rose from 27 in the earlier survey to 29. They also had higher blood sugar levels.

No other traditional risk factors like smoking, heart disease or diabetes changed enough between the two surveys to account for the increase in strokes.

In a "pre-stroke population" of middle-age women, a tripling of cases is "an alarming increase," said Dr. Ralph Sacco, neurology chief at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

The study was led by Dr. Amytis Towfighi, a neurology specialist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and presented at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.

She used the National Health and Nutrition Surveys, a federally funded project that gives periodic health checkups and questionnaires to a wide sample of Americans. Participants are routinely asked whether a doctor had ever told them they had had a stroke, and about 5,000 middle-aged people answered that question in each survey.

Researchers saw that the stroke rate had spiked in middle-aged women but stayed about the same — around 1 percent — in middle-aged men. So they looked deeper at the responses to see if they could learn why.

Belly fat stood out, Towfighi said. The portion of women with abdominal obesity rose from 47 percent in the earlier survey to 59 percent in the recent one. The change in men was smaller, and previous studies have shown that "abdominal obesity is a stronger risk factor for women than men," she said.

Men traditionally have had a greater risk of stroke than women, and "women start catching up to men five or 10 years after menopause," said Dr. Philip Gorelick, neurology chief at the University of Illinois in Chicago and chairman of the stroke conference.

The new research means "we need to redefine our textbooks about stroke in women," because they may now be more at risk in middle age than men.

Obesity "sets the stage for all the other risk factors to come in" like diabetes and heart disease, Gorelick added.

In other news at the conference, two studies found that stroke patients were more likely to die if they went to hospitals on nights or weekends, echoing other recent studies that found similar risks for heart attack and surgery patients.

Michigan State University doctors analyzed 222,500 stroke cases at more than 850 hospitals participating in an American Heart Association quality improvement program from 2003 to 2007.

In-hospital deaths were about 6 percent for those who arrived during normal business hours and had strokes caused by a clot, compared with 5 percent of those who entered the hospital after-hours. Deaths were 27 percent for off-hour strokes caused by bleeding in the brain versus 24 percent during normal hours.

A second study of 2.4 million stroke patients in California found death rates of 10 percent on weekends and nights versus 8 percent during weekdays.

Despite the poorer outcomes, doctors said no one should ever delay getting help, since any delay raises the risk of death. The best treatments can only be given in the first few hours after symptoms appear.

Now who would you expect the medical establishment to blame for an increase in strokes but the women''s weight. The truth is the increase in strokes is due to prescription medicine these women are taking at the hands of the medical establishment. Medical Intervention is the root of most medical ills.

[lovesamerica]

I haveslimmed down in the past,when I was working 1 job and had the time. Now age,family genetics,medicine and the fact that I work 80yrs a week and vol. for another10 and have a small farm contribute to my weight.It is easier,though certainly not healthier, to grab a meal on the go rather than plan.healthy food does cost more,although if I had someone making me a salad everyday I would gladdly eat it. I know of nobody that likes to be overweight,or even underweight,which is also a health issue.Ps, when I did lose weight the last time coincided wih my exs first affair.....

[drivelphobe]

shippingnut

That is incorrect and you know it. The sad thing is that all the costs associated with self-inflicted obesity are a massive drain on the medical system and exhaust funds and medical resources needed by truly sick or injured patients.

[shoppingnut-2009]

Yes, they blame everything on obesity, it couldn''t be the doctor''s fault, oh no god couldn''t make a mistake. Yet how many women had had to die of heart attacks because doctors wouldn''t listen and take seriously their complaints of not feeling well. They would write it off as nothing to worry about, it''s the female getting all worked up over nothing, a little gas.

News Flash obese people cost the health care system less money than the skinny healthy people because they don''t live as long.

[drivelphobe]

Hi betacandy

I am not a bigot, but that''s another issue.

You appear to be an individual with a condition, other than gluttony and reckless abandon, who is to be commended. You are doing everything within your power to stay healthy. I''m sure that even though you claim to be heavy, you look healthy, dress well and
are attractive.

My repulsion is certainly not with individuals who have medical conditions which increase body weight.

I am repulsed by those who could care less about their massive, bloated bodies, yet gorge at every meal, complain about how hot they are all the time, stuff their faces with any food that fits in their mouths, and complain about all their medical issues like kidney stones, sore joints, gas, belching, aches and pains, lethargy, and general malaise.

These people live at the doctor''s office, utilizing medical services, driving up health care costs, simply because they are too lazy and to selfish to make any attempt at maintaining a healthier body and lifestyle.

You are not in that category and you should be proud of your accomplishments.

[betacandy]

Drivelphobe, bigots repulse me. Even if they''re slender and gorgeous.

The problem is, you don''t know what you think you know. Example: I''ve been working my butt off with a trainer for a year and dieting, and I''ve only gotten bigger. I''ve been on diets since I was 8. People like you think I just need to work out 20 hours a week, which is the minimum in past experience that''s gotten me to lose weight.

You know what the real problem is? PCOS. It''s a hormonal condition affecting 1 in 4 women. Of that 25%, many of us are insulin-resistant, which means our bodies don''t process calories properly - we just store it straight away as fat. No one''s come up with a solution yet, because doctors have only recently stopped telling women they were to blame for it.

Doctors thought fat caused PCOS, and now they''re finding it''s the other way around.

And you think we''re not trying? I''m not an exception. You don''t know what you think you know.

[betacandy]

Drivelphobe, bigots repulse me. Even if they''re slender and gorgeous.

The problem is, you don''t know what you think you know. Example: I''ve been working my butt off with a trainer for a year and dieting, and I''ve only gotten bigger. I''ve been on diets since I was 8. People like you think I just need to work out 20 hours a week, which is the minimum in past experience that''s gotten me to lose weight.

You know what the real problem is? PCOS. It''s a hormonal condition affecting 1 in 4 women. Of that 25%, many of us are insulin-resistant, which means our bodies don''t process calories properly - we just store it straight away as fat. No one''s come up with a solution yet, because doctors have only recently stopped telling women they were to blame for it.

Doctors thought fat caused PCOS, and now they''re finding it''s the other way around.

And you think we''re not trying? I''m not an exception. You don''t know what you think you know.

[sage2008]

I wonder how many women in their 40s have been on birth control pills for most of their adulthood. There is all kinds of research to prove that birth control hormones increase the risk of blood clots and therefore of strokes.
There are also studies out there to show that doctors see an overweight person and instantly assume that all of their problems are caused by their weight and therefore do not take their patient seriously. It happens also with older patients, whose complaints are often dismissed due to the assumption that any problem is related strictly to the person''s age. The medical community is biased (just like any other community--everyone has biases) and I wonder how that affects the studies that are done, how the studies are set up, what factors are examined and so forth.

Medical Intervention is the No. 1 cause of strokes, but obesity is blame by the medical profession. Maybe if they would use something without massive side effects but that would mess up their profits. Health care is for profit, nothing more in the US.

[drivelphobe]

Hi lovesamerica

Did you ever attempt to slim down, or is your weight condition due to illness or medications where you have no control?

I do have contempt for overweight people. I can''t help feeling that way and I''m certainly not alone. The sight of them sickens me. When I know how easy it is to control what you eat, to exercise, and to avoid habits that add to the problem, I am disgusted with their apparent lack of ambition. They seem to have no concern for themselves, their families or friends, and simply get bigger and bigger, sicker and sicker, while proclaiming that they''d rather be fat and happy than thin and miserable. Of course this is BS. It''s just another excuse to continue gorging on junk food and plenty of it. They deserve what they get! The biggest joke of all is the massive amounts of money made by the diet industry. If being fat is so tolerable, why all the interest in diets?????

[lovesamerica]

Eat right exercise, die anyway....

[lovesamerica]

beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am overweight,my husband of 20yrs left with the parting words "you got fat and repulse me" no lightweight himself I might add. Of course weight increases health problems,so does unsafe ***, drinking,not stopping at redlights,smoking. It was the vileness in your comments about overweight people that I found repulsive.

[drivelphobe]

Hi lovesamerica,

Is that it? Just some nasty comment about me? Don''t you get it? These women are huge, for no other reason than they just keep shoving in the food. They probably smoke, drink diet sodas, refuse to moderate their intake, ignore the facts that obesity is repulsive, hideously unattractive, and contributes to a myriad of easily preventable adverse medical conditions, including cancer and strokes.

[lovesamerica]

drivelphobe.... I hope that some day you look in the mirror and see a less than '' Perfect'' you.

[memerider]

We need to stop blaming people who obviously would change their behavior if it were that easy. Those without weight issues find the obese a socially-acceptable easy target, since even so-called "comedians" mentally abuse them.

It appears that sociopaths and others with personality disorders are driven to attack those with problems different from their own--thus traumatizing them, and making it more difficult for the obese to solve their problems.

Both the obese and those who attack them need help--and we need to determine where the problem lies for both and find workable answers.

[drivelphobe]

Here you go again with the "fat" issue. Of course the massive weight of these beasts is the primary cause of the increase in strokes.

These gluttons continue to gorge, imposing their self-indulgent lifestyle consequences on our healthcare system, without regard for any form of human decency. They are selfish, arrogant and repulsive and they could care less about the facts correlating cancer and now strokes to their hideous, behemoth size.