Strokes are most common in old age, but US research suggests that lifestyle is putting younger people increasingly at risk for suffering strokes too. In their study of two US states, researchers whose report appeared in the journal Neurology found that the rate of strokes among adults younger than 55 nearly doubled between 1993 and 2005.
Among whites aged 20 to 54, the rate rose from 26 strokes for every 100,000 people, to 48 per 100,000. Among African Americans, it climbed from 83 to 128 per 100,000.
The researchers said they could only speculate on possible explanations. One might be that doctors are detecting strokes in young people more often, both as a result of better brain-imaging technology and being more vigilant.
"But I really don't think that's the major reason," said lead researcher Brett Kissela, of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. "We're definitely seeing a higher incidence of risk factors for stroke now."
Those risk factors include obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. "And if you're developing them at the age of 20, then you may have a stroke at a younger age too," Kissela said.
But a researcher not involved in the study agreed that better diagnosis and a real increase in young people's risk of stroke are both probably at work.
"Now MRI allows us to detect smaller strokes," said Mitchell S.V. Elkind, of Columbia University in New York, who co-wrote an editorial published with the study.