Stroke affecting younger people: study

Stroke, a condition traditionally associated with old age, is increasingly affecting young and middle aged people, partly due to high blood pressure and unhealthy lifestyles, new research has warned.
Worldwide, there has been a startling 25 per cent increase in the number of stroke cases among people aged 20 to 64 years over the last 20 years.
Strokes in this age group now make up 31 per cent of the total number of strokes, compared to 25 per cent before 1990, according to the Global and Regional Burden of Stroke in 1990-2010 study, published in The Lancet.
Furthermore, the overall amount of disability and illness and premature death caused by stroke is projected to more than double worldwide by 2030.

Researchers found that more than 83,000 people aged 20 years and younger are affected by stroke worldwide each year.
A second major study published in The Lancet Global Health found that in 2010, three fifths (61.5 per cent) of the disability and more than half (51.7 per cent) of the lives lost to stroke were the result of haemorrhagic strokes - the deadliest form of stroke, mainly caused by high blood pressure and unhealthy lifestyles.

Most affected are people younger than 75 years and those living in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) where incidence of haemorrhagic stroke has risen by 19 per cent.

Led by Professor Valery Feigin, Director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) University in New Zealand, researchers studied available data to estimate the incidence, prevalence, and premature death and disability caused by stroke in all 21 regions of the world.
The study found that while the average age of people with stroke has slightly increased, most of the burden of stroke (overall illness and death) has shifted from people older than 75 years to people 74 years and younger.
This group accounts for 62 per cent of new strokes, 45 per cent of deaths, and 72 per cent of illness and disability.

The rate (age-standardised per 100,000 population) of people who die from stroke has declined globally over the last 20 years, but the actual numbers of stroke related deaths increased to 5.9 million (26 per cent increase).
In high-income countries (HIC), reductions in the age-standardised incidence of stroke (decrease 12 per cent), premature death rates (37 per cent), and illness and disability rates (36 per cent) over the last two decades probably reflect improved education, prevention and care.
In LMIC, the opposite is true, stroke claims more lives (42 per cent higher mortality) and is associated with more disability and illness (46 per cent greater) than in HIC.

This is in part because of a rise in the prevalence of risk factors involving unhealthy diet, high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity, and smoking in these countries.