PLoS ONE (Jan 2023)

Impact of sex in stroke in the young.

  • Anina Schwarzwald,
  • Urs Fischer,
  • David Seiffge,
  • Morin Beyeler,
  • Adrian Scutelnic,
  • Johannes Kaesmacher,
  • Pasquale Mordasini,
  • Tomas Dobrocky,
  • Jan Gralla,
  • Mirjam R Heldner,
  • Roza Umarova,
  • Thomas R Meinel,
  • Marcel Arnold,
  • Simon Jung,
  • Barbara Goeggel Simonetti

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274722
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 3
p. e0274722

Abstract

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Background and purposeLimited data is available on sex differences in young stroke patients describing discrepant findings. This study aims to investigate the sex differences in young stroke patients.MethodsProspective cohort study comparing risk factors, etiology, stroke localization, severity on admission, management and outcome in patients aged 16-55 years with acute ischemic stroke consecutively included in the Bernese stroke database between 01/2015 to 12/2018 with subgroup analyses for very young (16-35y) and young patients (36-55y).Results689 patients (39% female) were included. Stroke in women dominated in the very young (53.8%, pConclusionsThe main finding of this study is that sex specific risk factors in women may contribute to a large extent to the higher incidence of stroke in the very young in women. Important modifiable stroke risk factors, such as arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus and atrial fibrillation did not differ in women and men, either in the young as well as in the very young. These findings have major implications for primary preventive strategies of stroke in young people.