Study Says that Pregnancy in young women may increase the risk of stroke as compared to the older pregnant women of childbearing age.
The study analysis:
Stroke risk is more than doubled in women aged 12 to 24 years and increased significantly by 60% in women within 25 to 34 years during pregnancy or post partum period up to six weeks after delivery.
Eliza C. Miller from Columbia University Medical Centre (CUMC) in New York, US, the lead author says:
"We have been warning older women that pregnancy may increase their risk of stroke, but this study shows that their stroke risk appears similar to women of the same age who are not pregnant,"
"But in women under 35, pregnancy significantly increased the risk of stroke. In fact, one in five strokes in women from that age group were related to pregnancy," Miller added.
Previous studies suggested that the risk of pregnancy-associated stroke is higher in older women than in younger women.
Joshua Z. Willey, Assistant Professor at CUMC and neurologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in the US noted that "The incidence of pregnancy-associated strokes is rising, and that could be explained by the fact that more women are delaying childbearing until they are older, when the overall risk of stroke is higher,"
In the study, the team examined 19,146 women, aged 12 to 55 years. Of these, 797 (4.2 per cent) were pregnant or had just given birth.
They found that the overall incidence of stroke during or soon after pregnancy increased with age (46.9 per 100,000 in women age 45 to 55 vs 14 per 100,000 in women age 12 to 24).
However, pregnant and postpartum women in the youngest group (age 12 to 24) had more than double the risk of stroke than non-pregnant women in the same age group (14 per 100,000 in pregnant women vs 6.4 in non-pregnant women).
Miller said;
" We need more research to better understand the causes of pregnancy-associated stroke, so that we can identify young women at the highest risk and prevent these devastating events,"
The study analysis:
Stroke risk is more than doubled in women aged 12 to 24 years and increased significantly by 60% in women within 25 to 34 years during pregnancy or post partum period up to six weeks after delivery.
Eliza C. Miller from Columbia University Medical Centre (CUMC) in New York, US, the lead author says:
"We have been warning older women that pregnancy may increase their risk of stroke, but this study shows that their stroke risk appears similar to women of the same age who are not pregnant,"
"But in women under 35, pregnancy significantly increased the risk of stroke. In fact, one in five strokes in women from that age group were related to pregnancy," Miller added.
Previous studies suggested that the risk of pregnancy-associated stroke is higher in older women than in younger women.
Joshua Z. Willey, Assistant Professor at CUMC and neurologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in the US noted that "The incidence of pregnancy-associated strokes is rising, and that could be explained by the fact that more women are delaying childbearing until they are older, when the overall risk of stroke is higher,"
In the study, the team examined 19,146 women, aged 12 to 55 years. Of these, 797 (4.2 per cent) were pregnant or had just given birth.
They found that the overall incidence of stroke during or soon after pregnancy increased with age (46.9 per 100,000 in women age 45 to 55 vs 14 per 100,000 in women age 12 to 24).
However, pregnant and postpartum women in the youngest group (age 12 to 24) had more than double the risk of stroke than non-pregnant women in the same age group (14 per 100,000 in pregnant women vs 6.4 in non-pregnant women).
Miller said;
" We need more research to better understand the causes of pregnancy-associated stroke, so that we can identify young women at the highest risk and prevent these devastating events,"
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