Rapper Snoop Dogg says his 24-year-old daughter is on the mend after suffering a stroke earlier this month. Doctors say she is far from alone, as the brain condition is striking more young adults.
Doctors call strokes a “brain attack,” and while many occur in older people, about 10-15% of all strokes are happening in young adults — people under 50.
There are a couple of reasons for the uptick, said Dr. Carolyn Cronin, a neurologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
“Part of the increase in incidents may just be better detection of stroke in the young,” she told WTOP. “People do tend to assume that younger people can’t have strokes and maybe they’re not thinking that when they come in [to the hospital].”
Stroke symptoms can include:
- Sudden confusion
- Difficulty walking or talking
- A droopy face
- Blurred vision
- Lightheadedness
For some young adults, the reasons why strokes occur aren’t immediately clear, said Cronin, who also runs the university’s Young Stroke Center, the only stroke center in the mid-Atlantic region that specializes in treating younger stroke patients.
But another reason why some young people may be experiencing strokes is because they have the same unhealthy habits as many older stroke patients, like ignoring high blood pressure, neglecting diabetes treatments and overlooking elevated cholesterol.
“They’re smoking, they’re overweight,” Cronin said. “And those are major health things that damage the blood vessels leading to stroke. Unfortunately, those things are becoming more prominent and therefore catching up with people earlier.”