Women miss out on stroke diagnostic tests

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Women who have strokes are less likely to receive diagnostic tests that will help determine treatment, according to a new study.
Although fewer women than men have strokes, those who do tend to have a worse outcome. One factor that may have a bearing on this is the use of diagnostic testing.

There are two kinds of stroke - in ischemic stroke, a clot blocks the blood supply to the brain, in a hemorrhagic stroke, there is bleeding in the brain. Treatments are different, so a diagnostic test is needed to see what kind of stroke someone has had.

Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at 220 women and 161 men in the southeast Texas area who had had an ischemic stroke. They looked at the rate of use of four different diagnostic tests and learned that women were less likely to have two of these tests. The reasons for this disparity are unclear. But men and women should have equal access to testing so the course of treatment can be determined. This may require education and other changes on the part of medical staff.

Source
American Academy of Neurology meeting 14th April 2005