Kinkini Gupta
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Written By: Kinkini Gupta | Updated : June 24, 2022 2:22 PM IST
Women With Problems Like Infertility, Still Birth, Pregnancy Are At Higher Risks Of Experiencing Stroke
One of the leading causes of death and disability among women in the world is stroke. According to some reports of 2019, almost 3 million women died due to stroke. In some cases, when women managed to survive after having a stroke, they experienced disability thereby losing a healthy normal life. A new study in the weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal BMJ claims that women might be at an increased risk of non-fatal or fatal stroke triggered by conditions like infertility or pregnancy.
Some of the known causes of a stroke are obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and hypertension. But the above-mentioned study found that these factors did not apply to the women who participated in the study. Earlier research also could not establish a link between women who experienced miscarriage, still birth or major lifestyle changes to stroke. But researchers of the new study say that monitoring women with reproductive issues can help bring down the risk significantly. However, experts are unanimous in their opinion that further research is needed to find the reason why these women are so vulnerable.
The researchers analyzed the data on reproductive health and chronic diseases from about 27 studies based on eight countries. The study found that the factors affecting these women could be:
Weight: Obesity has been determined as a major factor impacting women's health.
Lifestyle: Unhealthy lifestyle that includes smoking, excess alcohol consumption can also increase the risks of stroke in women.
Factors like infertility, miscarriage and stillbirth were also proven to be influencing women's health. Women who have a history of infertility were found to be at a 14 per cent higher risk of experiencing non-fatal stroke than women with no fertility issues.
Women who have a history of experiencing a miscarriage were also found to be at 11 per cent higher risk than women who have not had a miscarriage. Also, studies show that women who have had a higher number of miscarriages are at even higher risks.
Women who have had still born children are at a 30 per cent higher risk of experiencing non-fatal stroke. Whereas women who have had multiple still births are 80 per cent more likely to experience a non-fatal ischaemic stroke. The study also found that women experiencing recurrent stillbirths are at more than 40 per cent risk.
Conditions such as PCOS and POI are very common in women and also act as a risk factor in women's health. Researchers say that the link between infertility and risk of stroke could be due to these conditions as well.
