ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the etiology and risk factors of stroke in young adults from Southern Sichuan, China to provide a basis for prevention and treatment of stroke. Methods The data of 398 young patients with first-ever stroke (aged 18 to 44) admitted to department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College from 2009 to 2013 was retrospectively analyzed. Four hundred twenty-five cases of stroke (aged greater than or equal to 45) were re?cruited by stratified random sampling to analyze its causes and risk factors in the same period. Results ① Young stroke accounted for 6.09% of all hospitalized stroke patients in which 78.39% of young stroke was ischemic, 64.57%was male and 58.04% aged from 40 to 44. ② According to TOAST etiology classification group, the percentage of large-artery atherosclerosis, small-vessel, cardioembolism, other determined and undetermined reasons were 56.09%, 17.95%, 9.93%, 10.90% and 5.13% in young stroke, respectively. Compared with the elderly group, other determined and undetermined reasons were higher, and the small-vessel was lower in young stroke (P0.05).③ Risk factors analysis revealed that the constituent ratio of smoking (34.92%), hyper?lipidemia (31.41%), alcohol (20.10%), obesity (13.07%), rheumatic heart disease (6.03%) in youth group were higher whereas hypertension(66.12%), diabetes(20.47%)and coronary heart disease(10.82%)were lower in young stroke com?pared with the elderly group (P<0.05). Conclusion ①Large-artery atherosclerosis is the most common etiology of youth ischemic stroke. ② Hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage is the most frequent type in Hemorrhagic stroke. ③ Hyperten?sion, smoking and hyperlipidemia are the most common risk factors to stroke.