Strokes among adults 20 to 54 nearly doubled from 1993 to 2020 in a Cincinnati-area study. Stroke isn't only a grandparent's worry now.

Here's a study worth reading carefully. A University of Cincinnati team tracked first-ever strokes among adults ages 20 to 54 in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region from 1993 through 2020 and published the results Sept. 23 in Neurology. They counted 2,076. The stroke rate nearly doubled, from 33.9 to 62.2 cases per 100,000 person-years, driven by ischemic strokes, which happen when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked. Over the same years, high blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation and substance use all became more common among younger stroke patients; substance use rose from 4.6% to 40.2%, much of it marijuana. The hopeful part: 30-day death rates dipped from 11.7% to 9.4%, though that means more young survivors living with the aftermath. Now the epidemiologist's caveats. This is one region, and the researchers had no comparison group of people without stroke, so they can't say those risk factors caused the rise. Still, it's a nudge worth heeding. Know your numbers, and ask your doctor what your own risk looks like. And learn FAST: face drooping, arm weakness, speech trouble, time to call 911.