According to an article published in the October issues of the journal, Neurology, stroke is affecting people at a younger age. In 1995 13% of all strokes occurred in people between 20 and 50 years old. That number rose to 19% in 2005.
The reason for this increase in incidence in younger people is that we're seeing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension and less sleep in this age group compared to 20 years ago. We need to live a healthier lifestyle to lower the level of inflammation in our bodies. Most screening tests are unnecessary because they don't add much information we don't already know and they are reasonably expensive. However, there are a few very inexpensive and highly accurate tests that might be affordable screens. These tests include measuring vasular stiffness and heart rate variability, and doing a live blood cell analysis.
