People who were born between 1945 and 1954, also called baby boomers, are the most risk-free generation when it comes to suffering from stroke. A Rutgers study revealed that the lowest incidence of ischemic stroke belongs to this age group within the last 20 years.
At the opposite pole, people born between 1965 and 1974, also called Generation Xers, are twice as possible to experience this medical condition, as the rate of stroke more than doubled among this population.
Generation Differences In Stroke Incidence
The research, published Nov. 23 in the Journal of the American Heart Association and developed at the Cardiovascular Institute of New Jersey at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, analyzes the evolution of the incidence of stroke since 1950s.
The overall report shows that the number of cases decreased thanks to the advancements of medicine, according to Joel N. Swerdel, the lead author of the study. While the older generations are safer when it comes to this medical condition, the younger generations are more exposed to it, mainly because of the alarming rates of obesity and diabetes, which can lead to developing cardiovascular disease.
The scientists investigated more than 225,000 records of stroke, dated in the interval 1995 and 2014, in order to come to these conclusions. The records were divided into five groups of 10 years each. The set of people who are now aged 60 to 70 is the only group to have a decrease in the stroke incidence.
"A higher incidence of stroke in individuals born before 1945 was not surprising, as they did not benefit from the availability of lipid-lowering drugs, such as statins and anti-hypertensive therapy, as did younger generations," noted John B. Kostis, the principal investigator of the research.
Diagnosing Stroke - Easier Than Ever
However, while the situation for the oldest age group is understandable from a medical standpoint, people in the age interval of 35 to 50 benefited from the medical advancements, as well as awareness campaigns, and should have a significantly lower stroke incidence.
The results of the research concerning this age group is alarming, and the researchers believe that although the data only analyzed patients in the New Jersey, the statistics can most probably be extrapolated to the entire population of the United States.
Another note of the researchers concerns the technology that is used today when diagnosing stroke, such as MRI machines, which could influence the percentages, along with the differences in the admission procedures between the time intervals.
