Stroke on the Rise in Young Adults, New Study Says

A new study of roughly 1.3 million Americans found that stoke among patients aged 20 to 54 has jumped from 12.9 percent in 1993 to 18.6 percent in 2005.

The study was conducted by University of Cincinnati in Ohio by Dr. Brett Kissela and his team, according to ABC News.

The study said the higher incidence of "young" stroke over the that decade may be a reflection of the "changing prevalence of risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes and smoking in younger patients."

CBS reported that the average age people suffered a stroke fell from 71 between 1993-1994 to age 69 during 2005, and that 13 percent of stroke sufferers were adults ages 20-54 during 1993-1994. That number increased to 19 percent for that age group during 2005.

"The reasons for this trend could be a rise in risk factors such as diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol," study author Dr. Kissela said in a written statement.

"Regardless, the rising trend found in our study is of great concern for public health," he noted.

ABC added that the entire group -- ages 20 to 54 -- incidence among blacks went from 83 to 128 per 100,000 and for whites the incidence almost doubled from 26 per 100,000 to 48 per 100,000 from 1993/1994 to 2005.

It said the majority of strokes in younger populations are contributed to infarcts, or an area of tissue that undergoes necrosis as a result of obstruction of local blood supply.

"The proportion of first strokes caused by infarcts rose over the study period from 56.8 percent to 65.7 percent in patients ages 20 to 44, but that increase was not statistically significant," the article read.

It further explains that "the prevalence of stroke risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes and current smoking are all elevated in younger stroke population."

Stroke is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States, taking 137,000 lives each year. About 795,000 Americans will suffer a new or recurrent stroke in 2012, according to the American Stroke Association- about one stroke every 40 seconds.