Stroke incidence has increased by 51 percent among men aged 15 to 34, according to the first nationwide study of stroke hospitalizations characterized by age. The findings were presented at the American Stroke Association Conference in Los Angeles. After analyzing eight million hospitalization cases from 41 states, researchers found that stroke rose by 17 percent for women in the same age group, while actually declining by 25 percent among men 65 and older.
These numbers are disturbing. While some scientists have attributed the rise in stroke to the concurrent rise in obesity, ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross does not believe that the correlation between the two is strong enough to account for a 51 percent increase. The upswing is also unlikely to be associated with hypertension, smoking, cholesterol levels or cardiovascular disease, since all of these decreased in the same study time period.
ACSH’s Jonathan Leaf observes that U.S. cocaine use was at a particularly low level in the early 1990s and then rose afterwards. He suggests that the rise in use of stimulants — which can cause hypertension — may be a partial explanation.