Older women have higher risk of stroke than men

Atrial fibrillation can cause strokes and is known to be the most common cardiac arrhythmia, a condition involving an irregular heartbeat. A recent study, led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, showed that older women, 75 years or older, may have to be treated with a more effective stroke prevention therapy than warfarin, the current commonly-used blood thinner. The study compared the incidence of stroke and warfarin use among 39,398 men and 44,115 women with atrial fibrillation in Quebec between 1998 and 2007. The researcher team found that the level of anticoagulation in women may not be as high as in men, resulting in women having 14 percent higher rate of stroke than men.