Women lead worse life than men after stroke

New York, Feb 8 (IANS) Women who survive stroke have a worse quality of life than men, shows research.

"We have found that women had a worse quality of life than men up to 12 months following a stroke, even after considering differences in important socio-demographic variables, stroke severity and disability," said Cheryl Bushnell, associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina.

Researchers compared the quality of life in men and women who had a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).

A total of 1,370 patients aged 56 to 77 were included in the study.

The patients' quality of life was measured at three months and one year after a stroke or TIA using a formula that assesses mobility, self-care, everyday activities, depression/anxiety and pain.

"As more people survive strokes, physicians and other healthcare providers should pay attention to quality of life issues and work to develop better interventions, even gender-specific screening tools, to improve these patients' lives," stressed Bushnell.

The findings showed that at three months, women were more likely than men to report problems with mobility, pain/discomfort and anxiety and depression.

At one year, women still had lower quality of life scores overall than men but the magnitude of those differences had diminished.

Even though the women in the study were older than the men, our study showed that age really had very little effect on quality of life, explained Bushnell.