By Reuters, 10/26/2002

WASHINGTON - Women suffering a stroke may receive delayed treatment because their symptoms are not so well known as those of men, researchers reported yesterday.

Women suffering from stroke are likely to say they have headache, face and limb pain, disorientation, and other less recognized stroke symptoms, the researchers reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

It is vital to treat stroke, the third-leading cause of death in the United States, as quickly as possible. Brain cells start to die and continue to die in the hours after a stroke, but quick treatment can minimize damage.

Doctors are trained to look for symptoms that include sudden changes in sensation, walking ability, balance, motor functions - including paralysis of one side of the body - speech, vision, and dizziness.

Therefore, a woman's ''nontraditional'' symptoms may be overlooked during the precious hours when stroke therapies work best, said the researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and the University of Texas at Houston.

''Our findings have important consequences for stroke diagnosis and treatment,'' said Dr. Lewis Morgenstern of the University of Michigan, who led the study.

''These differences are both biologically interesting and socially consequential,'' he said. ''They are important to medical education, too, because often medical students and others are trained that stroke is a man's disease. It's not.''

Dr. Lise Labiche of the University of Texas said the findings show why it is crucial to study women as well as men in medical trials.

''Unless diseases are specifically studied in women, it can be wrongly assumed that women and men behave the same way. It is crucial to recognize that differences do occur between the genders,'' Labiche said.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 2002