Women who have experienced ischemic stroke are less likely than men to be evaluated by stroke specialists and to undergo additional diagnostic imaging, according to research presented at the International Stroke Conference 2019 in Honolulu.
Presenter Dr. Samuel Bruce of Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City and colleagues conducted a study that included Medicare data from almost 67,000 stroke survivors. The group found that female stroke survivors had the following:
- 6% less probability of having intracranial vessel imaging
- 10% less probability of having cervical vessel imaging
- 8% less probability of being monitored for heart-rhythm irregularities
- 8% less probability of having echocardiography
"Women hospitalized with stroke were less likely than men to see stroke specialists and receive imaging and other tests to diagnose stroke," Bruce said in a statement released by the American Stroke Association (ASA).
