In recent years, the incidence of strokes has tripled among middle-aged women in the U.S. Doctors blame this alarming trend on the obesity epidemic.
The rise came even though more women are taking medicines to control their cholesterol and blood pressure.
According to researchers, women’s waistlines are nearly two inches bigger than they were a decade earlier, an increase that corresponds with the increase in strokes. Women's average body mass index, a commonly used measure of obesity, rose from 27 to 29 over the same period, and they also had higher blood sugar levels.
Sources:
* USA Today February 21, 2008
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