Research points to risk factors for stroke beyond those already known – Jornal Estado de Minas

Adults ages 18 to 45 may have a higher risk of developing a stroke due to nontraditional risk factors, such as migraines, than better-known ones, such as high blood pressure. This is demonstrated by research published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, from the American Heart Association.

Most strokes are caused by traditional risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, smoking, obesity, low physical activity, alcohol abuse or coronary heart disease. However, recent data have shown an increase in incidence even among young adults without these comorbidities.

Using an insurance database, researchers compared data from more than 2,600 people who had a stroke with more than 7,800 healthy people to determine which risk factors most often lead to a stroke. The analysis found that migraines, blood clotting disorders, kidney failure, autoimmune diseases or cancers were significantly associated with stroke in men and women aged 18 to 44.

“These findings are significant because most of our attention has focused on traditional risk factors,” the authors wrote. “We should not ignore non-traditional stroke risk factors and focus only on the most well-known ones: both are important for the development of stroke among young people.”

The study showed that the younger the patients at the time of the stroke, the greater the likelihood that the stroke was due to a non-traditional risk factor.