@article{3154082,
    title = "Demographic and Geographic Vascular Risk Factor Differences in European
Young Adults With Ischemic Stroke The 15 Cities Young Stroke Study",
    author = "Putaala, Jukka and Yesilot, Nilufer and Waje-Andreassen, Ulrike and and Pitkaniemi, Janne and Vassilopoulou, Sofia and Nardi, Katiuscia and and Odier, Celine and Hofgart, Gergely and Engelter, Stefan and Burow, and Annika and Mihalka, Laszlo and Kloss, Manja and Ferrari, Julia and and Lemmens, Robin and Coban, Oguzhan and Haapaniemi, Elena and Maaijwee, and Noortje and Rutten-Jacobs, Loes and Bersano, Anna and Cereda, Carlo and and Baron, Pierluigi and Borellini, Linda and Valcarenghi, Caterina and and Thomassen, Lars and Grau, Armin J. and Palm, Frederick and Urbanek, and Christian and Tuncay, Rezzan and Durukan-Tolvanen, Aysan and van Dijk, and Ewoud J. and de Leeuw, Frank-Erik and Thijs, Vincent and Greisenegger, and Stefan and Vemmos, Konstantinos and Lichy, Christoph and Bereczki, and Daniel and Csiba, Laszlo and Michel, Patrik and Leys, Didier and and Spengos, Konstantinos and Naess, Halvor and Bahar, Sara Zarko and and Tatlisumak, Turgut",
    journal = "ISRN Stroke",
    year = "2012",
    volume = "43",
    number = "10",
    pages = "2624+",
    publisher = "Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins",
    issn = "2090-9454",
    doi = "10.1161/STROKEAHA.112.662866",
    keywords = "cerebral infarct; ischemic stroke; risk factors; stroke in young adults",
    abstract = "Background and Purpose-We compared among young patients with ischemic
stroke the distribution of vascular risk factors among sex, age groups,
and 3 distinct geographic regions in Europe.
Methods-We included patients with first-ever ischemic stroke aged 15 to
49 years from existing hospital-or population-based prospective or
consecutive young stroke registries involving 15 cities in 12 countries.
Geographic regions were defined as northern (Finland, Norway), central
(Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands,
Switzerland), and southern (Greece, Italy, Turkey) Europe. Hierarchical
regression models were used for comparisons.
Results-In the study cohort (n=3944), the 3 most frequent risk factors
were current smoking (48.7%), dyslipidemia (45.8%), and hypertension
(35.9%). Compared with central (n=1868; median age, 43 years) and
northern (n=1330; median age, 44 years) European patients, southern
Europeans (n=746; median age, 41 years) were younger. No sex difference
emerged between the regions, male: female ratio being 0.7 in those aged
<34 years and reaching 1.7 in those aged 45 to 49 years. After
accounting for confounders, no risk-factor differences emerged at the
region level. Compared with females, males were older and they more
frequently had dyslipidemia or coronary heart disease, or were smokers,
irrespective of region. In both sexes, prevalence of family history of
stroke, dyslipidemia, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary
heart disease, peripheral arterial disease, and atrial fibrillation
positively correlated with age across all regions.
Conclusions-Primary preventive strategies for ischemic stroke in young
adults-having high rate of modifiable risk factors-should be targeted
according to sex and age at continental level. (Stroke. 2012;
43:2624-2630.)"
}