Women are more likely to inherit the risk to develop stroke than men, discovered a British study 806 men and women who suffered strokes due to inadequate supply of blood to the brain or due to tiny blockages in the artery were studied by researchers. Studies revealed that the women who suffered strokes had 40% more chance to have a family history of incidence of stroke, than men. There were 80% more chances in those women having mothers who also had a history of stroke, to suffer from it, than in men. Also if a mother had suffered a stroke early in her life there was more likelihood of a daughter having a stroke at the same age.

This implies that a family history of stroke is significantly more important clinically for women when compared to men ,explained the author of these studies ,Dr Peter M Rothwell, who is the director of Stroke Prevention Research. The Lancet Neurology published the study in the Dec. 22 online issue.

Ischaemic strokes account for nearly 83 % strokes, points out the American Stroke Association. The British results are in the same line as the results drawn by an American team of researchers done earlier this year. The American study discovered that if a mother had had a stroke, then that doubled the chances of a daughter suffering a stroke as well. This is concurrent to the results drawn by the British researchers.

Rothwell explained that Strokes can surprise you by occurring suddenly for no obvious reason. There is a new postulate that a genetic correlation occurs only in certain subtypes of strokes. The British researchers now intend to do further studies to unravel if the genetic risk is more in women related to specific stroke subtypes.