Ischemic stroke in Korean young adults

Objectives - To evaluate the characteristics of ischemic stroke in Korean young adults. Material and methods - We prospectively studied 149 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke aged between 15 to 44 years who were admitted to Asan Medical Center. All patients underwent brain CT/MRI and the majority of them underwent cerebral angiogram, echocardiography and laboratory studies for coagulopathy and vasculitis. Stroke subtypes were classified according to TOAST criteria. Results - In our study, men (75.2%) significantly outnumbered women. Stroke subtypes were: large artery atherosclerosis 20.8%, small artery occlusive disease 17.4%, cardioembolism 18.1%, undetermined causes 16.8%, and other determined etiologies 26.8%. The prevalence of hypertension, cigarette smoking and habitual alcohol consumption was significantly higher in men than in women. Conclusions - Compared to the western studies, the deviation of sex ratio and the relative proportion of large artery atherosclerosis/small artery occlusion was higher. Heavy exposure to risk factors such as hypertension and cigarette smoking in Korean young men may explain these differences.