World Stroke Day 2021 EXCLUSIVE: Can young adults get strokes? Expert REVEALS

Heart attack at 40, stroke at 42, and breast cancer at 38. Who would have imagined these so-called diseases of older adults will turn younger, and even the most physically fit people will fall prey to these? Not many. And till date, there are still a lot of people who see themselves too young to suffer from a stroke or heart attack.

However, this common perception is now nothing but a myth. But this, of course, doesn’t mean that older people have been saved from the effects of these diseases, they continue to be the vulnerable ones.

To mark the occasion of World Stroke Day, Dr P.P. Ashok, Consultant Neurologist & Head, Division of Neurology, P.D. Hinduja Hospital & MRC, Mumbai, tells you that India is now witnessing increased incidences of stroke.

“As our population is getting older with more older people living, we expect more age-related diseases to occur. In that sense, India is witnessing a steady increase in the incidence of stroke. Contrary to our country, the developed Western countries have reported reduced incidence of stroke due to better prevention strategies, so yes, we see more cases of strokes in India. Stroke in general increases with increasing age. But today, with the busy lifestyle seen especially in metros, we witness age-related disorders like strokes appear at earlier ages,” says Ashok.

What’s the reason, you ask? Ashok has an answer. “Long working hours, aiming to achieve stiff targets, late-night parties with smoking and alcohol all seem to accelerate arteries to block with a corresponding rise in heart attacks and strokes. So, I would call these premature atherosclerotic diseases occurring at younger ages also especially youngsters with bad lifestyles. This is different from very young strokes where the cause is different from the above. Here, a genetically determined deficiency of factors promotes blood clotting, but that is a minimal subgroup,” explains Ashok.

He adds that they are seeing people within the age of 40 to 45 years also getting strokes. “And when we look at their profile, they are middle-level executives working long hours and in stress coupled with lifestyle habits of working for 12-13 hours and carrying their work back home. So, stress is a big factor too,” opines Ashok.

And the reason why stress often goes undiagnosed, unlike other diseases, is because one can’t measure stress. “You can measure sugar and treat diabetes, measure blood pressure and treat it. How will you measure stress? Therefore, it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, eat healthy, exercise regularly and do regular health check-ups,” advises Ashok.

However, the silver lining is that people are becoming aware, and are willing to see a doctor even in the case of minor symptoms. “There is a lot of awareness these days. Many people see some minor symptoms and immediately see the doctor, especially those living in the metros,” Ashok tells you.

A point to note is that just like a heart attack, stroke, too, can be a post-COVID symptom. Hence, all COVID recovered should be on their guards and never miss any symptom.

“COVID has the tendency of increasing blood clotting and today, we have markers in the blood, so any person who comes with the COVID infection, we do a blood test. CRP and D-dimer tests are markers to see who is at the higher risk of clotting, and if there are such people, we tend to put them on strong blood thinners for 2-3 weeks to prevent a stroke,” says Ashok.

He adds that as a precaution, it is important to check the vitals and if one is prone to blood clots, it is important to prescribe them with a blood thinner.

However, the prescription should be only done by an expert, self-diagnosis can turn out to be dangerous.

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