More US adults age 44 and younger are at risk of stroke

U.S. hospital discharges for stroke among U.S. adults ages 15-44 increased from 23 percent to 53 percent from the mid-'90s to the mid-2000s, researchers say. Co-author Jose Biller of Loyola University Medical Center, an expert panel the American Academy of Neurology, which convened to develop a consensus report on the recognition, evaluation and management of ischemic stroke in young adults and adolescents. The consensus report, published in the journal Neurology, said about 85 percent of all strokes are ischemic, or caused by blockages that block blood flow to the brain. Risk factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, abnormal cholesterol levels, congenital heart disease and smoking, said first author Dr. Aneesh Singhal of Massachusetts General Hospital. Strokes in younger people have a disproportionally large economic impact, because they can disable patients before their most productive years, Biller said.