Ischemic stroke in young adults: Risk factors, etiology, and outcome

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the etiologies, risk factors, and poststroke functional status in young patients with ischemic stroke.

Patients and methods: The data of 89 patients (49 males, 40 females; mean age: 43.0±8.6 years; range, 20 to 55 years) diagnosed with ischemic stroke were retrospectively analyzed between January 2016 and May 2019.

Results: The majority of the patients (62.9%) were found to have modifiable risk factors before stroke, and these risk factors were associated with age and sex, but more than half of the patients (58.4%) had a stroke subtype of stroke of undetermined cause. Although early symptoms and long-term functional status of the subjects did not differ by stroke subtype, the subjects in this study had a milder course and better outcomes than the general population with stroke.

Conclusion: These results indicate the critical importance of accurate determination of risk factors and treating the underlying causes for the short- and long-term management of stroke in young adults.

Cite this article as: Gökçimen G, Kozak HH. Ischemic stroke in young adults: Risk factors, etiology, and outcome. Turk J Neurol 2024;30(2):108-116. doi: 10.55697/tnd.2024.142.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

The study protocol was approved by the Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Faculty of Medicine Non-Drug and Non-Medical Device Research Ethics Committee (date: 05.07.2019, no: 91). The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

A written informed consent was obtained from each patient.

All authors contributed equally to the article.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.