For unknown reasons, women are at higher risk than men.
If you have coronary artery disease (CAD), you are at increased risk of having a heart attack. But many people don't know that the same process that causes obstructive fatty plaques to accumulate in the heart's arteries can occur in the brain's arteries, increasing the risk for a stroke, or "brain attack." Strokes occur in almost 800,000 people every year, affecting about 55,000 more women than men.
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