High Blood Pressure The Leading Factor Contributing To Stroke In Young Adults

Strokes do not discriminate by age.

They hit once the factors are right – and these factors may be found as often in younger adults who have strokes as in older populations, according to a new study.

Stroke commonly affects adults 65 and older. However, the stroke rate among younger adults has gradually increased over the past twenty years, while the overall incidence of stroke has declined.

Research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in Honolulu tried to ascertain why. The findings suggest that addressing risk factors as early as feasible may well be essential in reversing the trend.

In the study, stroke survivors seen at a northern California health care system throughout a recent 15-year period were congregated by age, ranging from one month to 49 years. Researchers compared conventional risk factors for stroke – high blood pressure, diabetes, tobacco use, obesity and high cholesterol – among survivors and individuals of comparable age who did not have strokes.

They found the likelihood of suffering a stroke increased considerably as people entered their twenties – but only if they had high blood pressure or more than one risk factor.

That likelihood grew significantly through the next twenty years of life.

Having a single risk factor drastically increased the likelihood of stroke among people in their thirties and forties, the study found. The probability at that age was found to be ten times greater if the individual had at least two risk factors.

The findings indicate doctors must to do a better job screening younger patients for stroke risk, said Dr. Sharon Poisson, the study's lead researcher and associate professor of neurology at the University of Colorado.

"People in their twenties and thirties aren't typically thinking that high blood pressure or diabetes are things they need to worry about, yet they really do make an impact on stroke risk," she said.

Kelly Fucheck is aware of this personally; she was 32 when she had a stroke.

Stroke survivor Kelly Fucheck with her husband, Glen, and their children, Lillian and Tomas. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Fucheck)

The daughter of a firefighter and EMT, Fucheck believed she understood the signs of a stroke – and was aware she had a number of risk factors. She was a smoker and was severely overweight at the time. Still, the day she woke up with dizziness, blurred vision and neck pain, she tried to pay no attention to the problems. She opted not to seek medical evaluation until two days later.

"I know that sounds crazy now, but stroke never crossed my mind at all," said Fucheck, now forty and a wellness consultant. "I always associated stroke with the elderly, silver-haired, walking with canes. I never really thought it could happen to someone my age, even though I had health issues. I was just dumbfounded."

Fucheck's story is not uncommon among younger adults, many of whom relate strokes to their grandparents, said Dr. Carolyn Brockington, director of the Stroke Center at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke's hospitals in New York City.

"They think, 'I'm too young for that,' when really, we can have a stroke at any age," she said.

Brockington, who was not part the study, said the findings had better urge people actively engage in their health, specifically when they visit the doctor.

"Somebody who has elevated blood pressure shouldn't be discounted," she said, "even if the person is younger – and particularly if they have a family history of stroke, or a family history of hypertension."

Brockington advises young adults to recognize their personal risk factors and then work to reduce that risk.

"It's sort of like taking out an insurance policy for yourself on the rest of your life, to have a good quality of life while we're here."