[Women and strokes: specific therapy for female patients]

Stroke is the primary cause of mortality and incapacity of women in Spain. Current therapeutic guidelines are based on clinical trials in which the number of females taking part is insufficient, and overall benefits are then dangerously extrapolated to women.

Strokes in women have important features that distinguish them from those suffered by males, both as regards risk factors and aetiology, and in prevention and the therapeutic treatment that is performed during the fertile stage, pregnancy and menopause. There is, then, a need for further studies and specific clinical trials about strokes in females. Health professionals, society and the authorities, as well as women themselves, also need to be made more aware of the importance of strokes and to be provided with more information. If not, this epidemic will increase, especially if we bear in mind the foreseeable increase in life expectancy, and mortality and loss of independence in women will rise along with it.