Young adults showing signs of suffering a stroke are being misdiagnosed in hospital emergency rooms and women are less likely than men to receive a blood thinning drug that can limit brain damage after a stroke, according to separate studies by Michigan universities.

The studies were presented this week in San Diego at the International Stroke Conference, organized by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association.

In a study by the Wayne State University School of Medicine, researchers reviewed data covering 57 patients between the ages of 16 and 50 who were enrolled in the WSU Young Stroke Registry at the Comprehensive Stroke Center.

Seven of those patients were misdiagnosed with migraine headaches, vertigo, alcohol intoxication or other conditions and discharged. Only later did they discover they had suffered a stroke, according to Seemant Chaturvedi, M.D., senior author of the study.

Additionally, researchers at Michigan State University found that women were less likely than men to receive a blood thinning drug that can limit brain damage after a stroke.

As part of the MSU study, researchers reviewed all stroke studies published between 1995 and March 2008 that presented data on treatment rates of that drug. Eighteen studies provided data on more than 2.3 million patients. Overall women patients were less likely to receive complete treatment than men.