Study on Ischemic Stroke in Young Adults

Objective To explore the etiology、risk factors、cerebral angiography findings and prognosis of ischemic stroke in young adults.Methods 185 young adult patients with ischemic stroke were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical data of young adults were summarized with patients above 46 years old as control group. Results Male predominance existed in young adult ischemic stroke patients. 152(82.2%) young patients had definite causes, of which, 43.2% were atherosclerosis, 29.7 % were hyperhomocysteine,11.4% were cardiogenic cerebral embolism, 10.8% were vasculitis, 2.2 % were innate vasculopathy. 33(17.8%) cases had no definite causes. The frequent risk factors in young ischemic stroke were hyperlipidemia、smoking and hypertension. Angiography revealed artery stenosis in 70.9% of patients, and the majority existed in intercerebral. In comparison with patients above 46 years old, a higher cure rate and a lower dead rate were found in young adult ischemic stroke patients. Conclusion The male predominance in ischemic stroke patients is augmented by younger age. The main etiology was atherosclerosis. The frequent risk factors were hyperlipidemia、smoking and hypertension. In general, young adult ischemic stroke patients present better prognosis.