Stroke in Young Adults

ABSTRACT

Strokes in young adults are relatively uncommon. It usually occurs in the middle-aged and elderly. Only 3-8% of all strokes occurred in patients aged 15-45 years. But despite of the small percentage of occurance. It had more various and diverse possible causes than strokes in elderly. We evaluated l63 patients aged 15-45 years who were admitted to our hospital during 1985-1989 under diagnosis of cerebral infarction. Intracerebral hemorrhage. And subarachnoid hemorrhage. This group comprised 14.4% of all ages admitted for strokes. Cerebral infarction was diagnosed in 52 patientsthe possible causes were hypertension and diabetes mellitus, cardiac embolisms, meningoencephalitis. Puerperium or oral pill, polycythemia, systemic lupus erythemtosus, and etc. Intracerebral hemorrhage was found in 71 patients ; the possible causes were hypertension 'and diabetes mellitus. Ruptured arteriovenous malformations, ruptured aneurysms, Moyamoya diseases, end stage renal disease, and etc. The remaining 40 patients had subarachnoid hemorrhage almost all from ruptured aneurysms. From the above results we found strokes in young adults had various possible causes, and extensive, tailored studies are needed for diagnosis.