NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among women with no history of major illness, those with high cholesterol levels are significantly more likely to suffer a stroke, investigators in Boston report.

Dr. Tobias Kurth, from Brigham and Women's Hospital, and his associates point out in the medical journal Neurology that most studies looking at cholesterol and stroke have included people who already had heart disease, and excluded women.

To fill in the gaps, Kurth's team analyzed data from the Women's Health Study, which included 28,000 women aged 45 or older when they entered the study between 1992 and 1995. None had heart disease, cancer, or other major illnesses at baseline.

During an average follow-up of 11 years, 282 strokes occurred.

Being in the group with the highest level of HDL ("good") cholesterol cut the risk of stroke nearly in half, the investigators report.

On the other hand, having the highest level of LDL ("bad") cholesterol or non-HDL cholesterol roughly doubled the chances of having a stroke, compared with those with the lowest levels.

"Our results further underscore the importance of unfavorable lipid levels as risk factors for ... stroke among apparently healthy individuals without prior vascular disease," Kurth and his collegues conclude.