Study of Risk Factors and Clinical Profile of Stroke in Young Adults

Background: According to the Global Health Observatory, stroke is the second most common cause of death during last decade with a rising trend. Although stroke is considered to be the disease of older population, with the demographic shift the disease incidence is now shifting to younger age group. This shifting trend to younger age group pose a great concern to the world in terms of days lost to work and mortality. There is paucity of information on stroke in young individuals covering important types of stroke. Aims&Objectives: To study the clinical profile and risk factors associated with the stroke in young adults. Materials & Methods: The present descriptive study was carried out at tertiary care Hospital of Nasik from June 2011 to June 2013. A total of 40 consecutive cases between 15-45 years presenting with stroke were recruited for the study after taking prior informed consent. All cases underwent a detailed history taking, general and clinical examination along with all required Investigations. Data was analysed by SPSS software ver. 17 using appropriate statistical tests. Results: Ischemic stroke was the most common presentation and stroke prevalence was similar across both genders. Headache was the most common symptom followed by vomiting in all types of stroke patients. OC Pills and parity was found to significantly associated with CVST. Obesity, smoking and abnormal lipid profile was found to be significantly associated with thromboemblic stroke. Only 3 out of 40 stroke patients died during the course of study. Conclusion: OC Pills and parity were significantly associated with CVST while obesity, smoking and dyslipidemia were significantly associated with thromboemblic stroke. Outcome in young stroke patients was fairly good.