Having a stroke can change one’s life forever. The risk of having one increases with age, but now, a concerning new report reveals a big increase in strokes among people aged 18 to 44. An alarming trend has baffled experts, but one expert has a theory on why more young people are having strokes.
Reported by the NY Post, the concerning report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that between 2020 and 2022, a 14,6% increase in strokes among people aged 18 to 44. Strokes are on the rise among younger generations, and while experts are shocked, several factors could be contributing to this.
Speaking with the news outlet, Dr. Mohammad Anadani, chief of neuroendovascular services at the Endeavor Health Neurosciences Institute, said they had never had patients as young as these before.
“We don’t think about stroke in 20-year-old patients. We feel more pressure when caring for these patients because they are so young,” Anadani told the NY Post.
Recently, the expert treated two young adults who suffered strokes, one 24-year-old and one 23-year-old. Both of them were, by common standards, healthy, which made the strokes even less sense.
Mohammad Anadani believes both their strokes were embolic, meaning the blood clots likely formed elsewhere in the body before traveling to the brain, rather than developing directly in the brain’s blood vessels.
Expert shares theory why so many people are having strokes in their 20s, 30s, and 40s
“Both were taking oral contraceptives, which are known to increase the risk of stroke,” he said, explaining that the 23-year-old patient also had a patent foramen ovale, or a hole in her heart. That likely contributed to her stroke as it allowed a clot to bypass the lungs and travel to the brain.
Anadani explained that they don’t know exactly why strokes among younger people occur. However, he said it’s “likely related to a rise in traditional cerebrovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity.”
“Lifestyle factors like increased stress, long working hours and physical inactivity have also been suggested as contributing factors,” he continued.
However, other factors could have contributed. The 24-year-old patient said she was working long hours at the time and drinking large amounts of caffeine to keep going.
The drink she regularly consumes contains 200 mg of caffeine per can. Health experts recommend that healthy adults limit their caffeine intake to no more than 400 mg per day.
Many factors
Moreover, Scarsdale cardiologist and TikTok personality Dr. Evan Levine has previously warned that energy drinks are among the worst beverages for heart health. Also, he added that Adderall, which has become widely popular, could play a role.
“Young healthy people aged 20 to 40 … have a 57% higher risk [of heart problems] than young healthy people not on these meds,” Levine previously told the NY Post.
Mohammad Anadani said evidence of Adderall being a contributing factor to strokes is “mixed.”
“Most studies did not show a strong association between Adderall use and stroke, some studies did,” he said. “While energy drinks and Adderall could play a role in the rise of strokes among young adults, they likely contribute to a lesser degree than more well-established risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and chronic stress.”
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