Study of underlying risk factors for stroke in young

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability throughout the world. Unlike developed countries, in India about substantial proportion of all stroke cases occur in young. In our study, we assessed some physio-chemical parameters like blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic), lipid profile (total cholesterol: High Density Lipoproteincholesterol ratio) and Body Mass Index (BMI) in 36 stroke patients of 27-49 years of age and 20 age-sex matched healthy control. We found a significant association between the incidence of stroke in young and high blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic), high fasting blood sugar and dyslipidemia (p<0.05 in each case). No significant association could be found between stroke incidence and high BMI among the young (p>0.05). Our study concludes that, stroke in young is closely associated with underlying risk factors like high blood pressure, high fasting blood sugar and dyslipidemia, modification of which may curtail the risk of stroke among the said population.