Smoking Linked to Cryptogenic Ischemic Stroke in Young Adults

MONDAY, Feb. 24, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Smoking and high-intensity smoking are associated with cryptogenic ischemic stroke (CIS) among adults aged 18 to 45 years, according to a study published online Feb. 19 in Neurology Open Access.

Phillip Ferdinand, M.B.Ch.B., from University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust in the United Kingdom, and colleagues prospectively recruited patients aged 18 to 49 years with CIS within two weeks of symptom onset from 19 European stroke centers to determine the association between smoking and young CIS.

The analysis included 546 young patients with CIS and matched controls. The researchers found a significant difference between patients and controls in low education status, hypertension, obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, and heavy alcohol use. In the whole cohort, there was an association between smoking and young CIS after adjustment (odds ratio, 2.39), with stronger associations seen in men (odds ratio, 3.34). The association was seen in all age groups and was highest in the 45- to 49-year-old age group (odds ratio, 3.77). The strongest association was seen for those with >20 pack-years (odds ratio, 4.30), especially in men and in the 45- to 49-year-old age group.

“We found a clear association between smoking and CIS in the young even after adjustment for low education status and well-known vascular risk factors,” the authors write. “This association was strong in men but was not significant in women.”

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