Obesity may fuel stroke in women 35 to 54

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- An increase in obesity rates among U.S. women has been linked to an increase in strokes among women ages 35 to 54, a study found.

Researchers analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Surveys and found 1.79 percent of women ages 35 to 54 reported a stroke from 1999 to 2004 compared to 0.63 percent of women the same ages who participated earlier from 1988 to 1994.

The study, reported at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference, did not find significant differences in the presence of conventional cardiovascular risk factors -- such as blood pressure, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein "bad" cholesterol, smoking, heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes.

"However, women in 1999 to 2004 were significantly more obese than women a decade earlier with an average body mass index of 29 vs. 27 the decade prior," Dr. Amytis Towfighi of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles said in a statement. "BMI of 25 to 30 is considered overweight, while BMI of 30.1 or more is considered obese."

Abdominal obesity is a known predictor of stroke in women and may be a key factor in the midlife stroke surge in women, Towfighi said.