Injury May Increase Strokes among the Young

Having a head or neck injury may triple the chance of stroke in the next month for people under age 50, a study finds. Strokes are most common among adults over 65. They occur less often in young adults and children, but they are not rare. The new study looked at medical records of 1.3 million people younger than 50. All of them had received emergency treatment for head or neck injuries. Within the next four weeks, 48 out of every 100,000 young adults had an ischemic stroke. This is the most common type of stroke. It is caused by a clot that blocks a blood vessel in the brain. Strokes also occurred in 11 of every 100,000 children treated for a head or neck injury. Researchers said they were unsure why the stroke rate increased so sharply after these injuries. Study findings were presented February 13 at a conference. HealthDay News wrote about the study.