title: Clinical characteristics of acute lacunar stroke in young adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute lacunar stroke in subjects under 55 years of age has been poorly characterized.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed the clinical features of lacunar stroke in 51 patients aged ≤55 years (84.5% men, mean standard deviation [SD] age 49.8 [5.2] years) collected from a prospective hospital-based stroke registry in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This subset of young lacunar stroke patients accounted for only 5.2% of all lacunar strokes, 1.2% of all ischemic strokes, and 1.1% of all acute strokes included in the registry over a 24-year period. In the multivariate analysis, factors independently associated with acute lacunar stroke in patients aged ≤55 years were alcohol consumption (>60 g/day) (odds ratio [OR] = 6.67), heavy smoking (>20 cigarettes/day) (OR = 3.02), obesity (OR = 2.81), essential etiology (OR = 2.73), and headache at stroke onset (OR = 2.45).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Characterization of the clinical profile of acute lacunar stroke in younger patients contributes to a better knowledge of the full clinical expression of this ischemic stroke subtype.
authors.affiliation: Cerebrovascular Division, Department of Neurology, idcsalud-Hospital Universitari del Sagrat Cor, University of Barcelona, Viladomat 288, E-08029 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Adrià
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arboix
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Estevez
authors.forename: Rosana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rouco
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oliveres
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: García-Eroles
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Massons
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012372:ROC Curve; D013030:Spain; D059409:Stroke, Lacunar / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality
keywords: acute cerebrovascular event; ischemic stroke; lacunar infarction; lacunar stroke; stroke registry; young adults