A new study found out that most women will call 911 if they think they're experiencing stroke; yet they also discovered that majority of women cannot recognize the warning signs of stroke.
According to the National Stroke Association, 425,000 women suffer from stroke each year that is 55,000 higher than the recorded cases in women. There are symptoms common on both men and women; however, women have unique symptoms such as sudden face and limb pain, hiccups, nausea, fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, and palpitations.
Researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, led by Dr. Heidi Mochari-Greenberger, conducted a survey on 1,200 women across the United States to assess their knowledge about the warning signs of stroke.
The results showed that 51 percent of the women associated numbness or weakness of one side of the arms, legs, or face as a sign of stroke. Forty-four percent, on the other hand, reported that slurred speech is also a warning sign. Less than 25 percent of the participants were not able to recognize other warning signs including dizziness (20 percent), vision impairment in one eye (18 percent), and unexplained headache (23 percent).
"The results suggest that efforts to improve stroke warning sign recognition among women has the potential to reduce treatment delays and improve outcomes in women," Dr. Mochari-Greenberger told Healthday.
Furthermore, their findings revealed that 25 percent of Hispanic women were not able to recognize any warning signs of stroke, compared to 19 percent for black women and 18 percent for white women.
"Stroke might be on the rise among young women. Young women have the opportunity to prevent stroke among themselves and to recognize when other people are having one and know to call 911," she said to Healthday.
This study was published in the March 19 issue of Stroke.
