Not only hypertension, smoking, overweight, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia to be kept under control to reduce the future risk of stroke. For women, it is always necessary to consider the presence of any problems in having children and in any case this factor, as well as one or more spontaneous abortions, could affect the dangers of experiencing a cerebrovascular episode.
Research on 620,000 women
To underline the importance of a specific attention for the woman who faces these situations, with consequent monitoring by the doctors, are the results of a research that appeared on British Medical Journal conducted on a huge amount of data by experts from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
The scholars have examined the information of an international research project that has observed what happened in almost 620,000 women (The project is called InterLACE – International Collaboration for a Life Course Approach to Reproductive Health and Chronic Disease Events), going precisely to evaluate over time how the difficulties in having children and abortions could be associated, in a mathematical key, with an increase in the risk of stroke.
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And give
The results are certainly sobering. Women who had infertility problems had a 14% higher risk of non-fatal stroke. But the dangers increased further in those who had a tendency not to carry the pregnancy to term because they incurred spontaneous abortions. Specifically, the risk of non-fatal stroke was 35% higher for those who had only one abortion, 27% with two abortions, 44% with three. The increased risk of stroke with patient death was as much as 82% with one abortion, 58% with two and 2.1 times with three. A 31% increased risk was also found in those who had lost the baby near birth.
The hypotheses of the researchers
Explaining this association is not easy. Only hypotheses can be made. Behind this particular “sensitivity” of the cerebral circulation there could be common causes that affect the whole organism, in terms of specific conditions of the arterial walls, such as autoimmune reactions or in any case anomalies involving the endothelium, the innermost layer of the structure. of the artery.
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“In this sense it must be said that the placenta is specifically perfused by arterial vessels and therefore it is easy to hypothesize that a phenomenon that involves it in this sense, such as a spontaneous abortion, is the face of the same” coin “which, in the sense general, it also affects other vessels, such as those that carry blood to the brain – he explains Massimo Del Sette, director of Neurology of the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa. But above all we must not forget that there is an infrequent picture that still needs to be investigated after a miscarriage that correlates the two situations: it is the anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome, which is precisely characterized by the two conditions. In this case it is necessary to do a simple blood test after the spontaneous abortion to reveal the possible presence of these antibodies, and then proceed with a specific anticoagulant treatment to allow a new pregnancy “.
The role of hypertension in pregnancy and lifestyles
Having said that obviously there are other elements that can correlate expectation with a risk of cerebrovascular episodes, first of all the presence of hypertension in pregnancy that must be considered, we must not forget that social aspects and related to lifestyle can also affect future risks. . The same authors of the research report that women with recurrent miscarriages are more likely to have unhealthy behaviors (e.g. smoking), obesity and depression, which could contribute to a later risk of stroke.
“This observation confirms that stroke prevention must begin at a young age and that also in women the control of risk factors is fundamental – points out Del Sette. In particular, in the presence of an abortion, particular attention should be paid to the clinical history of the young woman and any similar situations that have been observed in the family, to set up a program of targeted monitoring and controls of potential “enemies” of circulation. Today we know that stroke has a higher prevalence in women, also because they live longer for a long time, but we are seeing how even in young women hypertension can represent an element of danger to be particularly kept in mind during pregnancy, given that it can increase the risks of brain attacks linked both to arterial circulation and to the appearance of venous thrombosis, for coagulation disorders “.
Early monitoring
Moral of the story? It is the Australian researchers themselves who provide some practical indications. Early monitoring for stroke risk factors (such as increased blood pressure, blood sugar, blood lipids) and promotion of a lifestyle program is suggested for women who have miscarriages and difficulties in having children. healthy living (quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising) to reduce their excess risk of stroke in old age. ”
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