title: [Stroke in young adults: incidence and clinical picture in 280 patients according to their aetiological subtype].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the clinical features and incidence rate of stroke in young adults (less than 55 years of age).
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital-based descriptive study of 280 young inpatients consecutively admitted for stroke over a period of 24 years. We conducted a comparison with the remaining 4,312 patients admitted for stroke.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stroke in young adults represented 6.1% of all strokes, 5.7% of transient ischaemic attacks, 5.8% of cerebral infarctions and 8.4% of brain haemorrhages. However, reported minimal frequency of cardioembolic (2.1%) and atherothrombotic (3.4%) infarctions, accounted for 5.9% of lacunar and for 10.7% of essential infarctions and showed a maximum frequency in those infarctions of unusual aetiology (36%). Factors independently associated with stroke in young adults were cigarette smoking (OR 4.23; 95% CI 3.02-5.93; P=.000), unusual aetiology (OR 4.97; 95% CI 3.15-7.84; P=.000), headache (OR 4.57; 95% CI 2.59-8.07; P=.000), alcohol abuse (OR 3.93; 95% CI 2.46-6.29; P=.000), oral contraceptives (OR 14.07; 95% CI 2.37-83.40; P=.004), atrial fibrillation (OR 0.15; 95% CI 0.08-0.28; P=.000), arterial hypertension (OR 0.43; 95% CI 0.33-0.57; P=.000), COPD (OR 0.20; 95% CI 0.09-0.44; P=.000), atherothrombotic infarction (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.34-0.77; P=.001), female sex (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.52-0.97; P=.029), diabetes mellitus (OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.46-0.98; P=.030), ischaemic heart disease (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.33-0.95; P=.032) and intermittent claudication (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.24-0.94; P=.033).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Stroke in young adults is infrequent (6.1% of the total), but represents the highest frequency of cerebral infarcts of unusual aetiology (36%). We conclude that stroke in younger patients presents its own and differentiated clinical profile.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Enfermedades Vasculares Cerebrales, Servicio de Neurología, Capio-Hospital Universitari del Sagrat Cor, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. Electronic address: aarboix@hscor.com.
authors.forename: Adrià
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arboix
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Enfermedades Vasculares Cerebrales, Servicio de Neurología, Capio-Hospital Universitari del Sagrat Cor, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Massons
authors.affiliation: Unitat d'Organització i Sistemes d'Informació, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Luís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: García-Eroles
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Enfermedades Vasculares Cerebrales, Servicio de Neurología, Capio-Hospital Universitari del Sagrat Cor, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oliveres
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Brain hemorrhage; Cerebral infarction; Etiology; Etiología; Hemorragia cerebral; Ictus en adultos jóvenes; Infarto cerebral; Young adult stroke