Stroke cases increased by around 15% in young people; see risks

A study published this month in the scientific journal The Lancet Neurology showed that cases of stroke (stroke ) grew 14.8% in people under 70 years of age worldwide. In Brazil, around 18% of the incidence affects the age group from 18 to 45 years old, according to data from Rede Brasil AVC.

To raise awareness about the risks and prevention of stroke, this Tuesday (29) the World Stroke Day . The condition results from changes in blood flow to the brain, causing the death of nerve cells in the affected region. Among the causes of stroke are obstruction of blood vessels (ischemic stroke ) or vessel rupture (hemorrhagic stroke ).

Globally, the number of stroke cases increased by 70% between 1990 and 2021, according to searchwith a 44% increase in stroke deaths and a 32% increase in the worsening of conditions related to the disease. In total, there were 11.9 million new cases worldwide. In Brazil, around 39,345 Brazilians lost their lives due to stroke between January and August 2024, an average of six deaths per hour, according to the Civil Registry Transparency Portal (ARPEN Brasil).

According to Angelica Dal Pizzol, member of Rede Brasil AVC and neurologist, recent studies have already shown that the number of stroke cases in young patients has increased .

“This growth is attributed to several factors, including a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as inadequate nutrition, which can lead to obesity, diabetes and hypertension, even among younger people. Furthermore, climate change, high temperatures and environmental pollution are also factors that contribute to the increase in stroke cases”, he tells CNN .

Genetic and hereditary factors can increase the risk of stroke in young people, including genetic and hematological diseases. “Young people with these risk factors need closer monitoring, in addition to extra care with other risk factors. Maintaining a healthy diet and practicing physical activity regularly are essential to avoid the accumulation of risks that could increase the chances of a stroke”, advises the neurologist.

“I remember a lot of the mind-boggling pain and then erasing it”

Social entrepreneur Giuliana Cavinato suffered a stroke at the age of 30 while wakeboarding on a dam with friends during her vacation. She fell from the board and, with the impact of her head in the water, she suffered a carotid artery dissection, triggering an ischemic stroke.

“I remember getting up from the water and feeling a really bad headache, but I attributed it to both the fall and the strong sun, I couldn’t imagine it was a stroke. After all, I was young”, he recalls, in an interview with CNN .

Therefore, her first measure was to take a painkiller to alleviate the symptom, however, upon arriving at the place where she was staying, she passed out and was taken to the condominium’s outpatient clinic.

“The doctor on duty there saved my life: he quickly detected that it was a stroke and called an ambulance while my boyfriend spoke to my parents on the phone and they decided that the ambulance would go to the capital”, he says. “I then underwent a second procedure, thrombectomy, carried out with the patient awake: a catheter goes up through the groin, through the heart, through the carotid artery until it reaches the brain and ‘sucks out’ the clot. A stent was positioned in the carotid artery. I remember a lot of the mind-boggling pain and then blacking out.”

Cavinato reports that, when she woke up, she felt disoriented in the ICU and it took her a while to understand that she couldn’t move properly or speak.

Difficulty moving and speaking are some of the common symptoms of ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. According to the Ministry of Health, the main signs of a stroke include:

• Severe and sudden onset headache;
• Weakness or numbness in the face;
• Paralysis (difficulty or inability to move);
• Sudden loss of speech or difficulty communicating;
• Loss of vision or difficulty seeing with one or both eyes.

Symptoms such as dizziness, loss of balance or coordination may also occur, as well as changes in memory, difficulty planning daily activities, nausea, vomiting, mental confusion and loss of consciousness.

Young people have a better chance of surviving a stroke, says neurologist, but challenges remain

According to Dal Pizzol, young patients have a greater chance of surviving a stroke and recovering from long-term sequelae. This is due to better neuronal plasticity compared to elderly patients.

“Furthermore, because they have fewer chronic diseases, they have an additional protective factor that contributes to reducing morbidity and mortality”, explains the neurologist.

Even so, treatment and recovery from a stroke can be challenging and exhausting, as Cavinato says. “I remember that I went to therapy from Monday to Saturday, starting at six in the morning and ending in the afternoon. It was mind-blowing, when I stop to think about it”, he says.

“After a stroke, it is very common for you to start ‘running against time’, doctors say that there is a ‘window of opportunity’ in the brain for recovery between 6 months and 1 year after the stroke”, he adds. “So, basically, if you can recover in that time, great, but if not, we have to ‘adapt to living with the acquired sequelae’. This is very desperate for those who have suffered a stroke”, he says.

The entrepreneur says that the stroke imposed several limitations on her life, such as aphasia — a communication disorder that can make expressing and understanding difficult.

“Leaving the hospital, I saw the signs [na rua] as if I were in another country, as if they were written in Russian or Greek… Several incomprehensible words”, he recalls. “At that moment, I only spoke a few loose words, spelled my name all wrong and couldn’t communicate for a long time because I was tired, exhausted”, she adds.

To deal with these challenges, Cavinato held daily speech therapy sessions. However, in addition to speech, he also suffered motor consequences, with the right side of his body paralyzed and without sensitivity. “I was half dead. At first they had to bathe me, change me… My autonomy was ruined”, he says.

The rehabilitation process for stroke patients can be started in the hospital itself, aiming to reestablish functional skills, mobility and physical and mental independence.

In the Unified Health System (SUS), stroke treatment is carried out in Emergency Care Centers, which are hospital establishments that play the role of reference for care for stroke patients. In these units, the procedure is performed using thrombolytics, which restores blood flow in an artery or vein by “dissolving” a blood clot. Rehabilitation can be carried out in Specialized Rehabilitation Centers (CERS).

Neurocognitive rehabilitation

Faced with the challenges posed to his recovery, Cavinato went to Italy in search of a new treatment. “My father’s family is from Italy and, luckily, I have a cousin there who is a physiotherapist. When he knew [do acidente]insisted that they take me there because, in the Italian health system, there was a reference rehabilitation in stroke treatment”, he says.

This is Perfetti neurocognitive rehabilitation, developed by neurologist Carlo Perfetti in the 1970s. The technique considers all motor, sensory and cognitive processes involved in movement, unlike traditional rehabilitation approaches.

“After an injury, it is necessary to reintegrate different cognitive processes (perception, memory, planning, reasoning, among others). The main objective is to recover the mind-body unity, where the brain and body operate together in a harmonious way”, says Cavinato.

In Perfetti neurocognitive rehabilitation, exercises are tailored to that patient’s problem. They involve problems to be solved through the construction of a specific informative modality and the activation of these processes, working on the cognitive, sensory and motor aspects at the same time.

In this sense, the therapist helps the patient to search for information that their brain spontaneously has difficulty finding. By working together, mind and body, the patient regains their perception and consciousness, interacting with the world in a more natural way, with a higher quality recovery.

“I spent 1 and a half months in Italy and it was indescribable to be able, for the first time, to feel my foot again! This is very impactful”, he reports.

Given her own experience, Cavinato decided to become a stroke communicator, starting a YouTube and Instagram channel to tell her story. In 2018, she founded Instituto Avencer, aiming to train Brazilian healthcare professionals in Perfetti neurocognitive rehabilitation.

Heat is related to the increase in stroke cases around the world, says study

This content was originally published in Stroke cases increased by around 15% in young people; see risks on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil