2024-04-07 04:10:00
Smoking, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, atrial fibrillation, lack of exercise – all of these are traditionally considered risk factors for a stroke. A new study from the University of Colorado shows that non-traditional risk factors are likely to play an important role in the development of a stroke, especially at younger ages.
According to the researchers, these non-traditional risk factors include blood clotting disorders, kidney failure, autoimmune and cancer diseases, and especially migraines. These are “significantly associated with the development of a stroke” in people aged 18 to 44, writes the “Deutsche Ärzteblatt” about the study.
Traditional vs. non-traditional risk factors
The study included data from a health insurance database of 2,618 people who had a stroke; these were compared with 7,827 data sets from people who had not suffered a stroke. It was found that non-traditional risk factors were predominantly strongly associated with strokes, particularly in people under 35 years of age. Migraine was the most important non-traditional stroke risk factor among 18 to 24 year olds, accounting for 20.1 percent of men and 34.5 percent of women.
“The younger patients are at the time of the stroke, the higher the likelihood that the stroke is due to a non-traditional risk factor,” says lead author Michelle Leppert from the University of Colorado. The aim now is to research what mechanisms underlie these non-traditional risk factors.
From the age of 45, the importance of traditional risk factors increases. These are associated with strokes in 32 percent of men and 38.9 percent of women. The non-traditional ones accounted for 19.4 and 27.9 percent.
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