Stroke rate among younger adults nearly doubled by 2020

A regional study found that the rate of first-ever strokes among adults ages 20 to 54 nearly doubled between 1993-94 and 2020, rising from 33.9 to 62.2 cases per 100,000 person-years. Researchers said the increase was driven mainly by ischemic strokes, while age-adjusted deaths within 30 days of a stroke declined slightly. The study, published September 23 in the journal Neurology, examined data from Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Researchers identified 2,076 first-ever strokes among adults in the age group over the study period. The findings describe a regional trend through 2020, not a nationwide count, and do not show whether rates continued to rise afterward. The rate of ischemic strokes, which occur when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked, increased from 23.8 per 100,000 person-years in 1993-94 to 47.3 in 2020. Researchers did not find similar increases in intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhages, which involve bleeding in or around the brain. The study also reported that the age-adjusted 30-day death rate after stroke fell from 11.7% in 1993-94 to 9.4% in 2020.