Women Have Worse Functional Outcomes Than Men After Ischemic Stroke

FRIDAY, Dec. 19, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For ischemic stroke survivors, functional outcomes are worse for women than men up to 12 months after stroke, according to a study published online Dec. 17 in Neurology.

Chen Chen, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, and colleagues estimated sex-specific changes in poststroke functional, neurologic, quality of life, and cognitive outcomes in a cohort study involving 1,046 first-ever ischemic strokes ascertained from the Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi Project. Data were obtained from medical records and interviews conducted at baseline, three, six, and 12 months after stroke.

The researchers found that compared with male survivors, female survivors had higher adjusted mean activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living (ADL/IADL) scores at three, six, and 12 months, despite a reduction in ADL/IADL scores seen only among female survivors from three to 12 months (adjusted mean difference, −0.08). For other outcomes, there were no significant sex differences observed. There was an improvement in neurologic outcomes for both sexes; improvement in cognition was only seen in male survivors. Recoveries from three to six months mainly drove the improvements.

“Our results suggest that early and repeated assessments of a person”s ability to do daily tasks after stroke are needed, and particularly for female individuals, in order to reduce these differences in recovery,” Chen said in a statement. “When developing new interventions, these recovery patterns should be considered.”

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