Does lifetime exposure to estrogen affect risk of stroke?

Date:
February 1, 2023
Source:
American Academy of Neurology
Summary:
People with a higher cumulative estrogen exposure throughout their
life may have a lower risk of stroke, according to a new study. The
lower risk was found for both ischemic stroke and intracerebral
hemorrhage.


Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email
FULL STORY ========================================================================== People with a higher cumulative estrogen exposure throughout their life
may have a lower risk of stroke, according to a new study published in
the February 1, 2023, online issue of Neurology(R), the medical journal
of the American Academy of Neurology. The lower risk was found for both ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage.


==========================================================================
An ischemic stroke is caused by a blockage of blood flow to the brain
and is the most common type of stroke. An intracerebral hemorrhage is
caused by bleeding in the brain.

"Our study suggests that higher estrogen levels due to a number of
reproductive factors, including a longer reproductive life span and
using hormone therapy or contraceptives, are linked to a lower risk of
ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage," said study author Peige
Song, PhD, of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou,
China. "These findings might help with new ideas for stroke prevention,
such as considering screenings for people who have a short lifetime
exposure to estrogen." The study involved 122,939 postmenopausal female participants with a median age of 58 living in China without stroke at
the start of the study.

Participants answered questions on personal factors, such as age,
sex, and occupation, as well as lifestyle factors, such as smoking,
alcohol use, exercise and medical history. They also answered questions
on reproductive health information, including age at first menstruation
and start of menopause, number of pregnancies and miscarriages and oral contraceptive use.

Researchers looked at health insurance and disease registry data to
determine which participants had a stroke. During an average follow-up
period of nine years, 15,139 had a stroke. Of those,12,853 had ischemic
stroke, 2,580 had intracerebral hemorrhage and 269 had subarachnoid
hemorrhage, which is bleeding between the brain and the membrane that
covers it.

Participants were divided into four groups determined by their
reproductive life span, the number of years from first menstruation
to menopause.

Participants in the group with the shortest reproductive life span had
up to 31 reproductive years. Participants in the group with the longest reproductive lifespan had 36 reproductive years or more.

As a percentage, participants in the longest group had slightly more
strokes than those in the shortest group, 13.2% compared to 12.6%. But
when researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect stroke
risk, such as age, smoking, physical activity and high blood pressure,
they found that participants in the longest group had a 5% lower risk
of all kinds of stroke.

When looking at different types of stroke, female participants with the
longest reproductive life span had a 5% lower risk of ischemic stroke
and a 13% lower risk of intracerebral hemorrhage when compared to women
with the shortest reproductive life span.

Researchers also looked at other factors affecting estrogen levels,
such as number of births and use of oral contraceptives, both of which
are associated with higher levels, and length of breastfeeding, which
is associated with lower levels based on the hypothesis that pregnancy
and oral contraceptive use represent relatively higher sustained blood
estrogen levels. They found that higher estrogen levels led to a lower
risk of all types of stroke, as well as ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage.

"Estrogen exposure throughout life could potentially be a useful indicator
of a person's risk of different types of stroke following menopause,"
said Song.

"However, more research is needed on the biological, behavioral, and
social factors that may contribute to the link between estrogen exposure
and stroke risk across a woman's lifespan." A limitation of the study
was that information on reproductive factors was collected mainly based
on participants' ability to recall events, and participants may not have remembered such events correctly.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Stroke_Prevention # Heart_Disease # Elder_Care #
Fertility
o Mind_&_Brain
# Caregiving # Stroke # Brain_Injury # Intelligence
* RELATED_TERMS
o Stroke o COX-2_inhibitor o Rofecoxib o Multi-infarct_dementia
o Hyperthermia o Nicotine o Sciatic_nerve o Premature_birth

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Academy_of_Neurology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Leying Hou, Shuting Li, Siyu Zhu, Qian Yi, Wen Liu, You Wu,
Feitong Wu,
Yuelong Ji, Peige Song, Kazem Rahimi. Lifetime Cumulative Effect of
Reproductive Factors on Stroke and Its Subtypes in Postmenopausal
Chinese: A Prospective Cohort Study. Neurology, 2023; 10.1212/
WNL.0000000000206863 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000206863 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230201195328.htm

--- up 48 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)