Differences in primary and secondary stroke prevention strategies for Chinese men and women

This study aimed to explore whether stroke prevention strategies differ for men and women. Data used were from China Kadoorie Biobank. According to the China-PAR Project model, a predicted 10-year stroke risk of ≥7% is defined as a high stroke risk. The effects of risk factor control and medication use as primary and secondary stroke prevention strategies were assessed, respectively. Logistic regression models were used to assess the sex-specific differences in the primary and secondary stroke prevention practices. Of the 512,715 participants (59.0% women), 218,972 (57.4% women) had a high risk of stroke and 8884 (44.7% women) had an established stroke. Of high-risk participants, women were considerably less likely than men to receive antiplatelets (odds ratio [OR], 0.80; [95% confidence interval, CI, 0.72–0.89]), antihypertensives (0.46[0.44–0.48]), and antidiabetics (0.65[0.60–0.70]). Meanwhile, stroke women were significantly less likely to receive antiplatelets (0.75[0.65–0.85]) but more likely to receive antidiabetics (1.56 [1.34–1.82]) than their male counterparts. Besides, differences were found in risk factor control between women and men. Sex-specific differences in stroke prevention strategies are prevalent in China. Effective prevention requires the implementation of better overall nationwide strategies and special emphasis on women.