Doctors seeing more stroke patients under 65
AUSTIN, Texas - Doctors are seeing more and more stroke patients under the age of 65.
The American Stroke Association says strokes are the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the leading cause of disability.
Now, a new CDC report shows the risk of stroke has increased about 15% among Americans younger than 65 just in the last decade.
Dr. Farzan Ghosianzadeh, stroke director for Baylor Scott and White Health, joins FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas to discuss.
REBECCA THOMAS: What are some of the contributing factors to this increased risk of stroke in younger Americans?
DR. FARZAN GHOSIANZADEH: Primarily, the increased risk we're seeing is due to a couple of different factors, all kinds of related, obesity being on the rise, increased incidence of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease. Those are kind of the big factors, decreased activity being another part of that process. And they all kind of go hand in hand. So those are kind of the primary things. There's other things that may be contributing as well; increased incidence of smoking, increased alcohol intake.
REBECCA THOMAS: The CDC also says about 80% of strokes are preventable. You mentioned some of the factors. What should we all be doing to mitigate the risk of stroke?
DR. FARZAN GHOSIANZADEH: The big, big things would be obviously eating a balanced diet, reducing excessive sugar intake, following with your primary care physician, making sure that you're getting the appropriate screens. High blood pressure in general is kind of the big, big thing that I would be worried about. So making sure that you're getting screened appropriately for that regular exercise, increased activity, those are kind of the big things. Obviously, if you are drinking excessive amounts of alcohol or smoking, reducing or stopping those things altogether would be other things to kind of look at doing.
REBECCA THOMAS: Well, in addition to, you know, regular doctor's visits, checking blood pressure, cholesterol levels in the blood, etc., are there any scans that can detect blood clots that could lead to stroke, and if so, who should get one? How often?
DR. FARZAN GHOSIANZADEH: So, there are scans that are available to look for narrowing of blood vessels, potentially blood clots. But in general, there's, there's no recommendation to have these, actively done or done. Pretty preemptively. So, there are ways to screen for these. Specifically, I'm talking about narrowing of the carotid or internal carotid or carotid stenosis. Your primary care physician can potentially hear bruit, the kind of sound that they can hear when they're listening to the neck. That may indicate narrowing. And in that case, it may be a good idea to get either an ultrasound or a blood vessel scan, to look, to look for these things. The other thing to kind of think about is if you have other risk factors like heart disease, which is cholesterol built up in the arteries around the heart, it may be a good idea to look at the other arteries because you're not one artery system is not, isolated from everything else. So if there's something that could be required, it could be. Yes, exactly.
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REBECCA THOMAS: So let's talk about the signs of a stroke. What do we need to look for and recognize?
DR. FARZAN GHOSIANZADEH: So the thing that we used to talk about was "FAST". Now what we're looking for is to "Be FAST". You quickly tend to miss some of the strokes that occur in the back of the brain. But "Be FAST" kind of helps with that. Withstanding for balance or sudden onset dizziness, walking, sometimes I've had patients describing it as walking as if they're drunk. That's what the Be FAST stands for. He is eye or vision. Losing vision in one eye. Suddenly, painlessly. Blurred vision, double vision. Losing half your vision. Typically, that occurs in both eyes. That's a sign of a stroke. So if you have these signs, get in as quickly as possible. Call 911, call our paramedics, EMS partners and get to the hospital as quickly as possible.
REBECCA THOMAS: Right time is of the essence. Doctor G, a stroke director for Baylor Scott and White Health. Thank you so much for sharing your time and expertise with us tonight.
DR. FARZAN GHOSIANZADEH: No problem at all. Thank you.