More boys have strokes than girls, study says

So few children have strokes that it's been difficult to study them. But a new report released by the American Stroke Association said that boys are more likely to suffer a stroke as girls.

Only three children in every 100,000 will have a stroke, but beyond that it has been difficult to draw more conclusions, since so few children have strokes. Data from the KID2003 dataset of US hospital admissions were used, which logged pediatric stroke victims from one month to 20 years old.

The results showed boys were 43% more likely to have a stroke than girls. The findings correlate adult findings, where more men than women have strokes. But that correlation is surprising, since lifestyle choices such as smoking and alcohol use were often cited as why

What's surprising about this is that the reasons for the discrepancy were environmental. Smoking, alcohol use, and obesity are usually cited as stroke causes in adults, but these causes are less applicable to children.