Mediplacements

Cardiac Physiology News

Display News Filters

Stroke risk increased by irregular heartbeat in women

Thursday 10th May 2012
Source: Thinkstock
Latest Jobs

Strokes are among the biggest killers worldwide and new research has found that older women diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat could be at a higher risk of suffering an occurrence.

A team at McGill University Health Centre has found that older women with the condition are more likely to suffer a stroke then men. The researchers also discovered that the most anticoagulant therapy used to treat strokes in people that have an irregular heart, also known as atrial fibrillation (AF), could be less effective in elderly women over the age of 75 than it is in their male counterparts.

Strokes are a major killer in England with 150,000 people suffering an attack every year with 25 per cent of strokes occurring in patients over the age of 65, meaning that tackling the condition is increasingly important for those in locum cardiology work, according to NHS figures.

The McGill researchers found that those that suffered from AF were five times more likely to suffer a stroke and now researchers worldwide are working towards developing better treatments for the problem.

Dr. Meytal Avgil Tsadok, from the university, said: "We found that women had a 14 per cent higher risk of stroke then men. Even though the adherence to warfarin was the same in both sexes the follow up and the level of anticoagulation may not be as high in women compared to men. Other reasons could be a combination of uncontrolled hypertension and some other vascular factors."

The risk of AF is believed to increase as a person gets older and can also be a key factor in the development of high blood pressure, diabetes and underlying heart disease which can all prove fatal in later life.

According to NHS statistics, AF is fairly common in the UK especially in the elderly with ten per cent of people over the age of 75 being diagnosed with the condition and an estimated 500,000 are affected by the condition in the UK alone.

written by Angela NewburyADNFCR-1780-ID-801360673-ADNFCR

Related News