New Delhi: Stroke is becoming more common among young adults, despite an overall decline in incidence rate, a recent study by the University of Cincinnati (UC) found.
The team of researchers found that strokes among adults aged between 20 and 54 nearly doubled over the last 30 years, even as short-term survival after strokes improved.
Published in the American Academy of Neurology on 23 September, the study was led by Emily R. Fisher of the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine in UC’s College of Medicine. It analysed data across a 5-county region in Greater Cincinnati, US, across 6 study periods: July 1993–June 1994 and calendar years 1999, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020.
“While stroke has traditionally been considered a disease of older adults, our findings show that stroke is becoming increasingly common in younger adults”, said Fisher.
“At the same time, more people are surviving these strokes, which means more younger adults may be living with the long-term effects of stroke,” Fisher added.
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What the data shows
The team identified 2,076 first-time stroke cases among young adults, across all time periods. They also found that the number of stroke cases increased from 33.9 cases per 1,00,000 people in 1993-94 to 62.18 cases per 1,00,000 people in 2020.
This incidence rate declined among older adults, from 618.78 cases per 1,00,000 people in 1993-94 to 453.04 cases per 100,000 people in 2020.
The rise in stroke incidence appeared to be driven by ischemic stroke, which occurs when a blood clot or fatty plaque blocks an artery from supplying blood to the brain.
Cases of ischemic stroke almost doubled between 1993 – 1994 and 2020. The incidence rate increased from 23.8 cases per 1,00,000 people in 1993-94 to 47.3 cases per 1,00,000 people in 2020.
The data also showed that health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and substance use became more common over time among people who had had a stroke.
The increase in incidence rate of strokes among young adults was also accompanied by a decline in 30-day case fatality rates (CFRs) among them.
CFRs fell from 11.7 per cent in 1993-94 to 9.4 per cent in 2020. This was driven primarily by a decline in cases of intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage over time.
Addressing their findings from the report, Fisher said, “Our findings highlight the importance of identifying and managing stroke risk factors early in adulthood”.
“Additional research is needed to understand what is driving these trends and how they can be reversed”, she added.
Edited by Maryam Hassan