Abstract and full text are available online at the web site of the journal, Stroke. Here is a condensed abstract:
Cheryl D. Bushnell, MD, MHS; Patricia Hurn, PhD; Carol Colton, PhD; et al.
Women have poorer outcomes from stroke than men. Women also have risk factors that are unique, including pregnancy and hormone therapy. Hormone therapy for postmenopausal replacement increased the risk of ischemic stroke according to results of the Women’s Health Initiative clinical trials. Based on the current understanding of the mechanisms of action of estrogen, the reasons for this increased risk are uncertain. One method to better understand the reasons for this increased risk is to re-evaluate estrogen’s role in the neurovascular unit, simplistically comprised of the neurons, glia, and endothelial cells, as well as the processes of inflammation, and hemostasis/thrombosis. Besides the role of estrogen there are many gaps of knowledge about issues specific to women and stroke.
A multidisciplinary workshop was held in August 2005 to summarize the current evidence for estrogen and, more generally, stroke in women, and to provide recommendations for future basic, preclinical, and clinical research studies.
These studies ultimately may change the approach to stroke prevention and treatment in women.
Citation: Cheryl D. Bushnell, Patricia Hurn, Carol Colton, et al; Advancing the Study of Stroke in Women: Summary and Recommendations for Future Research From an NINDS-Sponsored Multidisciplinary Working Group; Stroke, Sep 2006; 37: 2387 - 2399.
Hosted by Duke University Medical Center and sponsored in part by NIH/NINDS, this innovative multidisciplinary conference generated many new ideas for clinical, experimental, and translational studies that will ultimately improve the understanding of stroke risk and prevention for women. A primary objective was to foster the interest of junior investigators to study issues related to estrogen, stroke, and women’s health.
Approximately 50 neuroscience clinicians and researchers participated in the 2005 ASSW conference. They participated in plenary sessions, small group workshops, a poster session, and of course, numerous hallway conversations.
This conference to advance the study of stroke in women was
organized
and presented by
Cheryl Bushnell, MD, MHS, Duke University;
Carol Colton, PhD, Duke University;
Patricia Hurn, PhD, Oregon Health Sciences University
For more information about this conference please send e-mail
to ASSWinfo@Duke.edu,
or call +1 919-684-5650.
This conference, Advancing the Study of Stroke in Women, is a project of the Center for Cerebrovascular Disease at Duke University Medical Center and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.
