Clinical Characteristics of Young Patients with Ischemic Stroke

Objective:To summarize clinical data in young patients with ischemic stroke, and to analyze the clinical characteristics. Methods: Two hundred and fifty-two young patients with ischemic stroke(stroke group) and 126 healthy cases(control group) were enrolled. The etiological types of ischemic stroke in the stoke group were classified by TOAST classification, the risk factors were compared between the 2 groups and the cerebral vascular characteristics were analyzed by DSA. Results: The percentages of large artery atherosclerosis, small artery occlusion,cardioemboism, the stroke with other determined etiology and the stroke with undetermined etiology were 23.8%,29.4%, 16.6%, 17.5% and 12.7% respectively by TOAST classification. The exposure percentages of risk factors in descending order were hypertension(50.0%), smoking(48.4%), hyperhomocystinemia(38.1%), dyslipidemia(24.2%), diabetes(13.1%) and alcohol consumption(12.0%). The percentage of cerebral vascular stenosis was 59.9%, consisting of 33.1% of purely intracranial arterial stenosis, 39.5% of anterior circulation stenosis and 21.0% of purely middle cerebral artery stenosis. Conclusion: The atherosclerosis was still the main cause in young patients with ischemic stroke.