week 9 discussion response

Well without thought the health issue that comes to mind is a stroke, which is caused by a blocked artery or a ruptured blood vessel. I chose to write about this as I’m am sitting her and have spent the past two days researching strokes in the hospital ICU with my brother age 38 who suffered a stroke Monday morning. I have since then discovered and learn that strokes are a lot more common in men than woman. Woman age 85 or older are then more prone to a stroke than men. According to Turtzo & McCullough, (2008) “Each year more women than men die from stroke, with women accounting for 61% of deaths in the US in 2004 [2]. This difference may result from a combination of the longer life expectancy of women and the increasing incidence of stroke with age. There is a trend for increased stroke severity [3] and greater mortality in women versus men after stroke [2]. Of those with a first stroke, the percentage of those with a recurrent stroke within 5 years is higher in women than in men (22% of women vs. 13% of men 40–69 years old; 28% of women vs. 23% of men ≥70 years old).”

Woman also have delayed stroke presentations that can delay treatment, and woman tend to have more cardioembolic strokes. When it comes to carotid strokes men tend to need surgery more than woman. It is also believed that woman are “protected from strokes before they reach menopause. Woman are also more suseptable to strokes during child bearing age of 15-35 than men at this age Turtzo & McCullough, 2008.

Symptoms also difference among men and woman, for example

Woman have more non traditional symptoms than men.

Woman are less likely to recieve tpa which is a drug that helps break up clots and get the blood flowing.

Mens stroke risk spike in the mid 40s age range.

Men suffer from depression more afterwards.

They both need care afterwards and mostly always some form of rehab.

Turtzo, L. C., & McCullough, L. D. (2008). Sex differences in stroke. Cerebrovascular diseases (Basel, Switzerland), 26(5), 462-74.