stroke in young adults: a retrospective study of 68 cases

numerous etiologies are responsible for cases of stroke in young adults. this study reviews the causes of two types of stroke (ischemic and intracerebral hemorrhage) in young adults aged 15 to 40years, admitted to our center (a tertiary care center) from 1997 to 2002. the purpose of this study is to determine the relative frequency of causes of stroke in young adults and compare this with published data in the literature. using the codes 46.0 to 46.8 of the international classification of diseases- 10th edition (icd-10), cases were identified from the records of the stroke patients admitted in imam khomeini hospital and the data were collected from their files using a comprehensive questionnaire. forty-two cases of ischemic stroke (62%) and 26 cases of intracerebral hemorrhage (38%) were identified. the leading cause of ischemic stroke was cardioembolism (38.1%), followed by atherosclerosis in 5 cases (11.9%). among cardiac causes infarction was attributable to consequences of rheumatic heart disease in 8 cases. in 3 cases a cessation or decrease in dose of warfarin was followed directly by an ischemic stroke. the most leading cause of intracerebral hemorrhage was hypertension (30.8%). other causes were anticoagulant therapy, intratumoral hemorrhage, aplastic anemia, leukemia, arteriovenous malformations, and chronic active hepatitis. in conclusion, cardioembolism and hypertension were the most leading causes of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in young adults admitted in our hospital.