Having more babies may mean lower stroke risk

[Guest guest]

Having more babies may mean lower stroke risk

Last Updated: 2004-01-16 15:32:21 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Having several children may protect women

against a form of stroke that involves bleeding at the base of the brain

called subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), results of a population-based

study suggest.

" It appears from our study that the more children a woman gives birth to

the lower her risk of SAH later on in life, " Dr. Gaist from the

University of Southern Denmark in Odense told Reuters Health.

SAH is the only type of stroke that afflicts women more than men,

" suggesting that reproductive factors may play a role in the etiology, "

he and his colleagues note in the American Heart Association's medical

journal Stroke.

Using data from three national Swedish registries, the team identified

887 women hospitalized with a first SAH. Of these, 70 percent had the

stroke five years or more after the birth of their last child.

Data analysis revealed that the odds of SAH declined with increasing

numbers of children. For women bearing two, three, four, or five or more

children the odds of having SAH were reduced by 17 percent, 28 percent,

28 percent and 33 percent.

The underlying biological mechanism responsible for this apparent

association is currently unknown, Gaist emphasized. " The nature of this

link - whether (number of children) truly protects against SAH or is

simply just negatively associated with it - deserves further study. "

SOURCE: Stroke, January 2004.

[Guest guest]

Well, shoot, NOW they tell me! Hmm, uh, Ron? Come here, I've got

something to tell you....No football watching this afternoon!!!

Judi