Author response: Sex differences in treatment and outcome after stroke: Pooled analysis including 19,000 participants.

Abstract

The authors thank Drs. Ganesh and Varma for their interest in our article.1 We agree with Drs. Ganesh and Varma's comments on premorbid disability potentially influencing the sex differences in 90-day mRS. Indeed, the findings from the INternational STRoke oUtComes sTudy (INSTRUCT),2 which was individual participant data (IPD) for incident strokes obtained from 13 population-based incidence studies, showed that prestroke functional limitation was one of the confounding factors—along with age, stroke severity, and history of atrial fibrillation—that reversed the greater mortality in women compared with men after adjustments.