Obesity linked to stroke among middle-aged women
A new study just released at the American Stroke Association’s international Stroke Conference, 2008, announced the relationship between waist circumference, weight, HbA1C and risk for stroke in women aged 35-64. Previous studies revealed that stroke prevalence in women in their midlife was more than twice that of men according to Dr. Towfighi, MD, assistant professor at the Neurology Department at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
To determine if this was a continuing trend, researchers looked at the data from NHANESIII taken in the years between 1999-2004. NHANES is the National Health and Nutrition Survey. Researchers did find a similar relationship in the more recent data taken from the NHANES III 1999-2004 study. It was found that 1.79 % of women aged 35-54 who participated in this study reported having a stroke while only .63 of the women who participated in the earlier NHANES study (1988-1994) reported having a stroke.
The analysis compared many variables (smoking, diabetes, heart attack, blood pressure, medication usage waist circumference, body mass index, blood lipids and HbA1C). The researchers found no significant differences in any of the variables except for obesity, blood sugar, waist circumference and medication usages. They found that more women in the recent study were on medication to lower blood pressure and to control cholesterol. In fact, 14.8 % of the women in the recent study reported medication use to control blood pressure compared to 8.9% in the older study. Nearly 4% of women used medication to lower cholesterol in the 199-2004 study compared to 1.4% of the women in the 1988- 1994 study. What does this mean? It means that more women were being medically controlled for risk variables in the current study than the previous study. Theoretically, their risk for stroke because of use of medication control should have been lowered.
Women in the current study were significantly more obese than a decade prior with an average body mass index (BMI) of 28.67 compared to a decade ago of 27.11 kg/m2 . In addition, the more recent NHANES data showed that women had a waist circumference nearly 4 cm bigger than the previous study. Towfighi also stated that the average blood sugars as measured by HbA1C were higher in the women in the recent study as compared to a decade ago.
The study researchers concluded that obesity and blood sugar markers are on the rise and are risk factors for stroke. They emphasized that abdominal obesity especially needs to be addressed as a risk factor for increased stroke prevalence and highlights the need to curb obesity in the US.
About the Author
Kathy Shattler received her Master of Science degree from Michigan State University in E. Lansing Michigan in Human Nutrition. Her twenty-two years of practice includes holding positions as a Lecturer, Chief Clinical Dietitian and Program Manager. Kathy is the Founder of Nutri-Care Consulting and is currently the Nutrition Director of www.CEU4U.COM, an online continuing education management company for Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Technicians.
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Posted: February 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pm →
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