ASA: Stroke Rates Down in Elderly, Up in Young Adults in the U.S.

THURSDAY, Feb. 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Although age-standardized stroke burden measures decreased or remained stable from 1990 to 2019 in the United States, the incidence of stroke is increasing among young adults in the South and Midwest, according to a study presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference, held from Feb. 9 to 11 in New Orleans.

Audrey C. Leasure, from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues present burden estimates of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in the United States in 2019 and describe trends from 1990 to 2019 in an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. Stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 were measured.

The researchers found that in 2019, there were 0.46 million incident strokes (67.5 percent ischemic), 0.19 million stroke-related deaths, and 3.83 million stroke-attributable DALYs in the United States. From 1990 to 2019, there was an increase noted in the crude number of incident strokes, prevalent strokes, mortality, and DALYs, but measures of age-standardized stroke burden declined or remained stable. There was variation observed by age group and geographic location in trends in stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, and DALYs, with a decrease in incidence of stroke among older adults nationwide and an increase in young adults aged 15 to 49 years in the South and Midwest United States.

"Based on our findings, we hope that targeted public health interventions will be considered for younger populations particularly in the regions where stroke incidence is increasing," Leasure said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical, health insurance, and other industries.

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