Welcome to thegoddessfund.org

Gender Differences in Stroke Symptoms Are Significant Evidence Grows

A University of Michigan study confirms researchers’ prior findings: women’s stroke symptoms can be markedly different from the “traditional” symptoms presented by men. The possible clinical consequences for women are slower response times outside the hospital, as well as greater time lapses in the emergency room before stroke is diagnosed. In fact, women with stroke had 30% lower odds of receiving t-PA, the only clot-busting drug approved by the FDA, according to another recent study.

Dr. Lewis B. Morgenstern, Director of the Stroke Program, University of Michigan Health System, and a member of The Goddess Fund’s Medical Advisory Board, presented these findings at our 2009 Washington D.C. Symposium “Women and Stroke: The X Factor” (see below). Dr. Morgenstern, the Principle Investigator, was Senior Author on a team that prepared “Acute Stroke Symptoms: Comparing Women and Men,” which was published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. The Michigan group interviewed patients presenting with ischemic stroke or TIA during the period January 2005 through December 2007, and concluded that women were 1.42 times more likely to present “non-traditional” symptoms than men were. “Non-traditional” symptoms can include pain, lightheadedness, and headaches. Mental status changes — disorientation, confusion, or loss of consciousness — were particularly more likely to be presented by women.

Educating physicians about all stroke symptoms, “non-traditional” and “traditional,” is critical to providing lifesaving diagnoses and treatment. And, Dr. Morgenstern stresses, “It’s important for everyone to know that stroke usually presents with abrupt onset of weakness or numbness in a face, arm and/or leg, sudden speech problems and/or clumsiness and falling. In addition, women may sometimes have accompanying changes in mentation or pain.”

Capitol Hill Symposium Yields Cutting-Edge Science

Promising Support for Research on Stroke in Women

Women and Stroke: The X Factor,” a Symposium on the latest information and research, was held in The Russell Senate Caucus Room, Washington, D.C., on February 25, 2009. Jointly sponsored by The Goddess Fund and the Society for Women’s Health Research, the event attracted several hundred doctors, researchers, reporters, health care professionals, and specially invited dignitaries and congressional staffers.

On the evening before the Symposium, Hon. Mary V. Mochary, Goddess Fund Trustee, generously hosted Symposium speakers and invited guests at a dinner at the Cosmos Club, where attendees were invited to meet and converse in an elegant and relaxed setting.