New study seeks to reduce stroke risk in women through gender-specific education
By Julie Kirchem, Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics
DALLAS - September 17, 2016 - When Mark Goldberg, M.D., Chair of the Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, sent out a request to his department for research ideas, Mandy Dirickson, RN, ANP-C, had a quick response.
“I wrote, ‘if I had a pot of gold, I would study stroke prevention in women,’ ” she said.
Dirickson, as a clinical provider and stroke outreach coordinator for UT Southwestern, has all the stats at her fingertips and what they show is that while stroke affects both men and women, women are generally not aware of the signs of stroke.
“This is interesting considering their traditional cultural roles as caregivers,” Dirickson said. “Women often direct the healthcare of others, but what about themselves?”
Her idea was to tailor stroke information for women and test whether the targeted education could make a difference.
“Interestingly, most women know stroke is an emergency and to call 911 for stroke, but almost fifty percent cannot name a symptom of stroke,” she said. “Yet women have the highest rate of disability and more events of stroke in their lifespan than men. I think prevention is a great place to begin.“
Dirickson and what she calls her "dream team*" developed the protocol for Helping to Educate Women about the Risk of Stroke (HER-Stroke). The study is funded by the St. Paul Foundation.
“We want to test the effectiveness of a gender-specific education intervention, not only for women with new stroke, but women with any risk factor of stroke,” Dirickson said. “Our hypothesis is that women at risk for stroke, if given this targeted information, will have increased knowledge and thus higher adherence to prevention guidelines.”
Jacob Deney, RN, Clinical Research Coordinator for HER-Stroke, will recruit up to 250 patients from within William P. Clements Jr., and Zale Lipshy University Hospitals. Phase 1 participants will receive the typical stroke education, and Phase 2 will receive either the typical education or the gender specific education. Participants will be contacted two weeks later by phone to analyze the patient’s knowledge.
The educational materials include information about the signs of stroke and also risk factors that only affect women:
- Preeclampsia with pregnancy (conveys a 30-year independent risk for stroke)
- Excessive alcohol consumption (greater than one beer or glass of wine per day)
- Smoking combined with the use of oral birth control
- Middle-aged and pre-menopausal women with untreated hypertension
- Atrial fibrillation
- Migraine with aura
- Risk factors for men and women: diabetes, obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol
“No one asks for a stroke. Yet we all know someone who has had one," said Dirickson. "If you, as a woman, were well informed early in your life that you had risks for future stroke, my hope is it would drive you to take action.”
*HER-Stroke committee: Dr. Goldberg; Dr. Mark Alberts; Dai Wai Olson, RN, Ph.D.; Sonja Stutzman, Ph.D.; Maddie Stewart , RN; Ann Stowe, Ph.D.; Dr. Robin Novakovic; Caryn Harper, MS; Charlene Supnet, Ph.D.; Sheila Allen and Jacob Deney, RN, Clinical Research Coordinator for HER-Stroke.