Risk factors and treatment of stroke in Chinese young adults

Objective: To evaluate the risk factors and treatment status of Chinese stroke patients aged 35-45 years old. Methods: We collected data from 1988 in-hospital stroke patients aged 35-45 years old from 36 hospitals in mainland China and compared it to 12,260 health controls with the same age. Information about stroke risk factors was obtained through a questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression and chi-square test were performed to explore the association between risk factors and stroke in young patients. Results: Of the stroke patients, 94.3% had an ischemic stroke and 73.0% were male. Frequencies of stroke risk factors were significantly higher in patients than those in controls, including history of hypertension (41.0% versus 9.0%, p<0.05), diabetes (5.2% versus 1.7%, p<0.05), hypercholesterolemia (4.2% versus 2.9%, p<0.05), heart diseases (7.2% versus 1.6%, p<0.05), stroke (14.9% versus 1.3%, p<0.05), smoking (38.8% versus 33.3%, p<0.05) and drinking (38.0% versus 24.9%, p<0.05). Furthermore, only 12.8% of patients with hypertension took antihypertensive drugs regularly, and 27.9% of diabetic patients took hypoglycemic drugs regularly. Risk factors when compared between male and female patients were as follows: history of heart diseases (5.9 versus 10.8, p<0.05), smoking (50.9 versus 6.5, p<0.05) and drinking (50.4 versus 5.8, p<0.05). Conclusion: Majority of the Chinese stroke patients aged 35-45 years were male and had suffered an ischemic stroke. The history of stroke, heart disease and hypercholesterolemia could increase the risk of stroke in young adults, and the risk factors in the order of importance were hypertension, smoking, alcohol drinking, previous stroke, heart disease, diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia. Hypertension, smoking and alcohol drinking were found to be the main risk factors; treatment state and lifestyle should be improved for young stroke patients.