The Role Sex Disparity into the Use IV Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator - Essay Example

Sex disparity in use of IV rt-PA Stroke is one of the diseases that have led to the loss of many lives. It has recently been noted that stroke has spread all over for the past few years. Most of the lives have been lost due to this fateful disease and many other people have ended up being disabled or in comas. The disease has affected many people and has left over 15 million people paralyzed. Stroke is the world’s third killer disease and most people need to take diagnosis of this disease since the consequences of it are very much painful and bitter. Stroke needs a lot of healthcare and one of the treatment methods of fighting this disease is by the use of IV rt-PA method of treatment. For the women who are 50 years and above they are less likely to be admitted in the ICU as compared to men. For the women they have to wait for a long time in the emergency section than for the men it has always been believed that men are at more risk when suffering from cancer as compared to the men. A woman suffering from stroke is much different from a man with the same disease. The disease ranges from the symptoms to the treatment process (Gerarld, 2009). Signs and symptoms of stroke i. Weak legs and arms. When one is affected by stroke it might end up affecting the legs and the arms. One who is affected feels weak in both parts and it might lead to one been paralyzed. ii. Loss of balance and dizziness. When you’re experiencing all this and having trouble when walking one might end up coming to assumptions that it is the intoxication process but these might be one of the symptoms of stroke. iii. Difficulty in conversing and confusion. Stroke can make one not to understand what he is being told and it would also lead to one not been able to speak. iv. Experiencing pain. When one is suffering from stroke one might undergo pain in the arms, the legs and also at times in the chest. v. Severe headaches. When one is suffering from stroke one is likely to experience severe headaches now and then. In a recent study it was noted that 600 patients were found to be experiencing headache women are likely to have headaches than the men. vi. Facial weakness. This is another symptom of stroke and it is seen when one smiles one side of the face is likely to sag. vii. Mental changes. Study says that women are at a higher risk of been infected by Ischemic stroke, that is caused by clots than men. viii. Hiccups are minor symptoms of stroke. But when cancer strikes the breathing system of a person it might result to hiccups. ix. The other symptom of stroke is having heart problems that make the heart system not to function normally. x. The other symptom of stroke is the problem of having a blurry vision or loss of vision of one eye. The researchers have indicated that the physicians treat the women who experience stroke in a less aggressive manner than the way they handle men. There are so many differences between thesymptoms of a stroke in a man and in a woman. The rt-PA method of treatment stands for Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator which is an enzyme that has proteins and it helps so much in the breaking of the blood clots. It is a very common method of the treatment of stroke. The research that has been taken in New York it indicates that women have got around 30% lesser odds of getting the treatment using the rt-PA method of treatment. The research has also touched on other sectors and the findings are that women are less likely to receive Thrombolytic treatment in the New York. Thrombolytic treatment of cancer entails the dissolving of the blood clot. The reason why there is a challenge in the chances of women to get thrombolysis is that timeliness of presentation is not the same and what might have led to all this is that the system would be multi-factorial .It is very true that women are more advantaged when it comes to the treatment of stroke using the method of thrombolytic treatment in the New York. The reasons that have led to the sex disparity are well evident. Poverty has been one of the factors that have led to sex disparity. Most of the women in the New York go through poverty or they earn very little wage that are not able to provide for them to the maximum. They end up not getting proper medication because of their state. Many would not afford to pay the high amount of price that is needed in the treatment of stroke. The wage gap of the women is much less than that of the men. Women will be faced by this challenges of been the minority and in this case their health will never be like that of the men who have got all the privileges. You will realize that the sexual disparity plays a big role in the treatment of the men and women with stroke using the IV rt-PA method in the New York. Between the year 1997 and the year 2006 the number of the women who were hospitalized with acute ischemic stroke were limited to get the proper medication related to stroke in the New York (Donald, 2010). They were not able to access the cardiac and carebro –vascular reperfusion therapies and they were also not able to acquire intravenous tPA (tissue plasminogen Activator) that is usually meant to break clots. Some of these factors that have been discussed above are non-health factors that contribute to sex disparity but still they have got a role that they play in one way or the other though not directly but still they have an impact to the health though their impacts can be hardly be noticed. The above factors have talked much about the disparities that are there between the men and women in New York when it comes to the when it comes to health care of stroke. All the analysis that hasbeen taken recently most of them have come to a conclusion that there is important between-study variation. They all come to a conclusion that women never get thrombolysis treatment compared to the men. Most of the studies that have been carried out on stroke state that the chances of women getting IV rt-PA treatment compared to that of the men are much lower. There has been reported to be existence of sex disparity. For one to get to understand this better one has to identify the IV rt treatment for acute stroke. One has to know more about. One also has to be well aware of the other type of stroke that is ischemic stroke. All these two have to be learnt widely in order to come with the reasons unto why the differences occur. All this research should take place at different hospitals that treat stroke in order to get the reasons behind sex disparity. When it comes to women who are infected by stroke their health is affected so much by this. The research taken on the rate of infections of stroke women have been said to be the ones who have suffered stroke. Women are believed to have long span than men and it is clear that stroke effects are more evident to the older people. Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV rt-PA) was at first found to be the treatment of the acute ischemic stroke. This this discovery was made in the nineteenth century. This treatment is known to be very scarce and rare to find in the whole world and it is found at specific places in the world. From a thorough revision that has been conducted by different researchers it has been noted that most women do not need the treatment comparing it with the case of men (Barbara, 2012). Here is a research on New York on about the matter concerning the sex disparity in the use of (IV) rt-PA. In this case research has taken place from many hospitals and the community health care. Though no review that is systematic that has proven that that there is gender disparity. A systematic review is very important when it comes to this issue. Most of the authors have written and entailed a predefined group analyses. The studies of the primary interests were those that reported on the usage of the intravenous (IV) RT- PA in the women and with the men with acute ischemic stroke. When doing the research on the hospitals the researchers would use single or multiple sites and the discharge billing was also involved. The right data must have announced the findings on the IV rt-PA treatment and the rates that are there in the male and female acute stroke patients. The results of the studies that are gotten from the various health facilities should be involved by the population of the acute stroke patients that have been admitted in the hospital at specific times (Barbara, 2012). The study criterion was so important when undertaking the research on the sex disparity in the use of (IV) RT –PA. There were even meetings that were held to discuss the same and all the disagreements were discussed broadly and they came up with solutions to the disagreements. They tried as much as they could to avoid the duplication of the articles and they considered only the best articles (Merilyn, 2009). During the research to determine the sexdisparity in the use of (IV) rt- PA they compiled the following data: the country of origin, time period, the study design, sex-specific digits and the case ascertainment. There was also the statistical analysis which was involving the primary and outcome measurement of the interests which was not adjusted or the other way of comparing the statistical analysis of the IV rt-PA treatment. The results of the findings were tabled and the final results were that forty seven studies went through the relevancy screen and twenty four out of the forty seven were said to be qualified and they went through data obstruction. Three of the twenty four studies were removed since they had duplicative data on them. Three others were also removed since had denominators that needed sex-specific estimates. The study that was taken took a lot of time to come to the analysis. It also went through many processes before getting the last figures. The study came to a conclusion that women with acute ischemic stroke were less likely to have the IV rt-PA treatment than the men. The summary from the 16 studies evidently showed the disadvantages of the treatment were 30% lesser in the women compared to the men. The subsequent influence analysis showed that the primary source of this heterogeneity was single and also very large administrative study. The reasons to the sex disparity after the research are unknown (Enku, 2012). To qualify for the treatment of the IV rt-PA stroke treatment the patients must have attained the age of the adulthood. There also should have a neurological deficit and have an established symptom onset time within the 180 minutes after arriving at the hospital. The eligibility criteria of the sex differences especially on the arrival time of must have led to an impact to the treatment of the women. Some studies have stated that women arrive in the treatment window as compared to the men. When you take a comparison of the age of women and men who have stroke you will find that women with stroke are older than the men. Most of them are likely end up as widow and they will live alone for a long time. It has also been said that women who suffer from the acute stroke are likely to have nontraditional stroke symptoms or are also likely to non -neurological symptoms such as having a chest pain and not being able to breathe well. The typical symptoms that have been found in a woman are likely to come to an outcome which will lead to a late diagnosis and there will be less rt-PA treatment in a woman. There are many contraindications concerning the IV rt-PA and if there are sex differences in their frequency they may lead to lower treatment rates in the cases of women. An example of this case is the use of anticoagulants of greater than 1.7 is a one way that results to contraindication for IV rt-PA. Some or most of the studies have shown that there is rise of the prevalence of atrial fibrillation and the cardioemblic type of stroke in the women. Although the hypothesis that that revolve around the difference between sex for the contraindications to be raised, analysis for 4 studies would come to a conclusion that the appropriate patients those who might arrived 3 hours of onset without any contradictions and still it came to the same point that women were more less likely to receive the IV rt-PA (Richard, 2011). There are also other warnings surrounding the use of the treatment method. In the case of acute stroke there are limitations that are in the guidelines of treating patients who have got major strokes. Most of the studies have not shown the cases of women to be sever when undergoing treatment. For the women those who are affected by the stroke to the severe stages most of them will end up losing consciousness and others will end up at a coma. The reason that most of the guidelines on stroke will give the restrictions on treating major strokes is that (NIHSS>22) with the tPA given the risk of the hemorrhage. The result of coma and consciousness makes most of the clinicians to be cautious when treating stroke using the method of rt-PA. Although old age is not too much of a strict contraindication for IV-tPA treatment, there are also rules that those who are seventy five years and above they should not be treated using this method since it poses much danger to them. Sex disparity is found in this case so age has got an impact on the disparity. The final conclusion comes to this, the subgroup analysis that was conducted had the following results: an OR < 1.0. This was enough proof that the odds of treatment in a woman ware less compared to that of the men. The findings are that women who are diagnosed with acute stoke were less likely to be given thrombolytic treatment (David, 2008) The study of stroke and the treatment of stroke using the IV rt-PA method and how it has brought the disparities in during its treatment in the New York have been having a lot of challenges and limitations at the same time. During the study the ability of controlling the confounding effects that were attributable to the difference between the men and the women and was not much available because there was no detailed data in the research study. It was noted during the study that people who are 80 years old and they went through the treatment of stroke using the IV rt-PA the treatment was likely to lead to statistically significant 34% improvement in the outcomes and for the rt-PA that was noticed in the patients who were under the age of 80 years. References Barbara C. Wallace. (2012) Towards Equity in Health. Los Angels: Springer Publishing. 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(2013)The Health Disparities among Underserved Population. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Copyright Read More