
More Millennials Are Having Strokes - indogooner
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/more-millennials-are-having-strokes/
======
weinzierl
Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) has been associated with strokes in young people.
IDA doesn't necessarily have pronounced symptoms and a diagnosis with a blood
sample is simple and cheap. It is often considered a "female disorder" but
it's only slightly more common in females than males.

tldr: Have your blood checked.

[1]
[https://www.hindawi.com/journals/crinm/2012/487080/](https://www.hindawi.com/journals/crinm/2012/487080/)

EDIT: As most follow up comments seem to center around diet as a cause, I
wanted to point out that there are several other causes.

~~~
simonsarris
Various deficiencies are definitely a problem in my friend population, where
many of them are vegans.

The vegan diet is a diet of deficiencies, and since none of them are
particularly careful about what they eat, I worry that it is making them all
worse off. Iron and B12 may be the most obvious, but also D3, calcium, zing,
animal based nutrients like creatine, and I'm sure others.

Unfortunately, this becomes a touchy subject with them very quickly, and most
of them believe "being vegan is healthier," but are uninterested in engaging
with or supporting this claim.

~~~
screye
This is surprising to me, as in India a large part of the population is
vegetarian. We don't seem to be susceptible to the same problems.

The move away from Milk products & Eggs seems to open a huge nutrient gap that
the vegan population hasn't adequately identified how to fill.

~~~
simonsarris
Some vegetarians in developing countries do not have a B12 problem (which also
causes anemia) because their food and water are more dirty, and there (B12)
bacteria producing. For those vegans at least, their best bet is to
accidentally eat enough food contaminated with bacteria or feces to consume
decent quantities of B12.

Source: The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets, 3rd edition, 2011. See page
192.

[https://books.google.com/books?id=eJ10HoYQ2woC&pg=PA183#v=on...](https://books.google.com/books?id=eJ10HoYQ2woC&pg=PA183#v=onepage&q&f=false)

~~~
zionic
This comment was both disgusting and enlightening. Wow, who would have thought
some people derive nutritional value from feces-laden water?!

~~~
asveikau
I feel like I have come across similar concepts. There is a theory for
instance that developing countries get fewer auto-immune diseases because they
are exposed to more germs.

------
acalderaro
Possible reasons: Diet (any non-red meat eating diet for nutrient
deficiencies, or too much meat due to reliance on fast food), drug/stimulant
use (YOLO culture?), More sedentary lifestyle (Desk jobs, social media for
'entertainment'), Lack of resources to take time off from work (too many hours
+ high rents = no time/money to do have non-home hobbies)

The interesting statistic was the urban regions were less pronounced than the
suburbs, which may indicate something either cultural or economic that may
drive this change.

Either way, it's unfortunate. We're living in the best possible time in
history, and many millennials are being impacted by something which - in some
cases - may be completely avoidable.

~~~
mazamats
What does not consuming red-meat have to do with anything? Consumption of red
meat is at an all time high and is growing every year.

~~~
pcl
According to another comment here, iron deficiency is a common cause of
strokes in younger people. Diets low in red meat often lead to iron
deficiency. (Of course, this can be addressed with a supplement, but not
everyone who avoids red meat also takes iron supplements.)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14683737](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14683737)

~~~
copperx
Excess iron in men also elevates cancer incidence, so I don't think one should
take an iron supplement if there's no need. A blood test is necessary. If you
look closely at the men and women's multivitamins that are sold in stores,
you'll see that there is no iron on the men's multivits.

Excess iron can be reduced by donating blood.

Also important: cast iron cookware introduces a non-insignificant amount of
iron into cooked food, which can be detrimental (or beneficial) depending on
the subject.

~~~
protonfish
High iron also correlates to an increased risk of heart disease, liver
disease, diabetes, and more. [http://www.webmd.com/men/features/too-much-iron-
in-your-bloo...](http://www.webmd.com/men/features/too-much-iron-in-your-
blood) That's one reason why I donate blood regularly. They check my iron
levels, then bleed off a bunch I don't need.

------
Herodotus38
A couple potential causes:

Increasing incidence of morbid obesity, HTN, type II diabetes, which are risk
factors for strokes.

Increased incidence of IV drug abuse, which sometimes leads to endocarditis,
leading to septic emboli (I see this very often).

~~~
80211
Yes. We need to stop subsidizing and normalizing obesity.

~~~
Herodotus38
Honestly, I think the opioid epidemic is really what is driving this more.
Unfortunately the article doesn't bring it up.

Though I do agree with you in general that we need a fundamental cultural
change or we are going to see the average life expectancy.

Every morbidly obese child you see has s good chance of not living past 50-60,
and their adulthood is going to be marked by early disability.

~~~
just4themoney
In fairness the article actually does bring up the drug angle twice, but in
passing.

>in our data we saw this [youthful stroke] increase independently of that,”
says Brett Kissela, professor and chair of the Department of Neurology and
Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, who headed the 2012
work. It is likely drug use among the younger adult population also plays a
role, he says

>Ralph Sacco, president of the American Academy of Neurology, notes that “data
has been scant” about strokes among younger people. “There has been mounting
evidence from different studies suggesting that even though the incidence and
mortality of stroke is on the decline, the rates may not be dropping quite as
much—and even [may be] increasing—among younger populations,” Sacco says. “The
reasons for these trends are not entirely clear but there are concerns about
obesity, diabetes and physical inactivity having a greater impact in younger
stroke victims.” Drug use may be another factor, he adds.

~~~
Herodotus38
Thanks, I did miss those references. I do wish they had mentioned IV drug
abuse specifically because that is far and away the largest factor. I would
wager stimulants like meth and cocaine as as second, followed by vasculitis
caused by levamisole laced cocaine (used to be really common when I trained).

------
shams93
Sleep deprivation is known to cause strokes, take a look at how many
millennials are expected to put in 80-100 hours for a 40 hour check , extreme
high competition overtime just to hold onto their seat.

~~~
sotojuan
OK, ready to get out of my bubble. How true is this? The only people I know
that work more than 40 hours a week still work less than 60. This is in
"office", food, and service jobs.

~~~
paulddraper
I know people that would work 80 hour weeks. They were engineers in the gaming
industry and a couple crunch weeks were not uncommon.

But that's a really specific situation for a short period of time.

~~~
cmpxchg8b
I starting working in games in the early 2000s. The first game I worked on
(Black & White) had me working 16-20 hour days, 6-7 days a week for 9 months.
It destroyed my health and turned me into an agoraphobic for at least a year,
with related conditions lasting much longer. I've seen people have to check
into mental health institutions after shipping games.

At one place I worked, there was a "crack board", where they would have
sweepstakes on who was going to come apart at the seams and lose it. Who knew
mental health issues could be so fun? "lol".

Needless to say I no longer work in games, it has done damage to my body and
psyche for very little return..

~~~
toomuchtodo
Do employers ever get sued for having an abusive work culture?

~~~
paulddraper
Having a culture of ridiculous work hours is not a crime.

And as long as thousands of developers handle/enjoy the game industry
environment, there's no compelling reason to change.

~~~
toomuchtodo
> Having a culture of ridiculous work hours is not a crime.

But it should be, per labor law. At a minimum, its wage theft.

------
galois198
From what I understand, strokes are caused by the same thing heart attacks are
- atherosclerotic plaques, and APs are caused by high blood cholesterol - APs
are literally constituted of cholesterol/foam cells. Has the consensus
changed?

~~~
dataisfun
More commonly from dissections of the internal or external carotid or
vertebral arteries, which for some bizarre reasons happens less as you age.

~~~
Herodotus38
Don't take this the wrong way but your statement is incorrect. I don't have
time to type out all the various subsets of strokes but Wikipedia is a good
initial source. Dissections are fairly uncommon. Far more common are emboli
strokes from afib, small vessel atherosclerosis, for example.

Interestingly, dissections as you mention cause ischemic strokes by (generally
speaking) flicking off clots that mess things up downstream that form within a
pouch made by the dissection (low blood flow + body trying to patch things up
= pro-coagulation). Note in this case there is a tear in the artery wall but
the wall remains (ie, no blood exits the artery).

This is different than an aneurysm, when the arterial wall bursts and you have
bleeding within the brain. That is termed a hemorrhagic stroke.

Source: hospitalist physician for 7 years who has cared for 100s of strokes at
a hospital that specializes in neurology.

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rootw0rm
my wife had a stroke at age 30. 4 strokes actually, 2 bleeds and 2 clots.
accidental overdose on stims.

~~~
Havoc
What do you mean by stims? Like adderall?

------
pella
2 months ago:

"Researchers Find Gut Bacteria Can Trigger Brain Lesions That Lead to Strokes
; Another connection between the gut and the brain."

[http://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-find-gut-bacteria-
ca...](http://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-find-gut-bacteria-can-trigger-
brain-lesions-that-lead-to-strokes)

HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14315355](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14315355)

------
nraynaud
I couldn't find the separation by kind of stroke (arterial/veinous,
ischemic/hemorrhagic).

------
gridit
I enjoyed reading this, and was surprised to learn it was written two decades
ago in (1998). I wonder what we've learned since?

------
Animats
Almost doubled in some areas since 2003. That's huge.

------
bogshaker
Stress of being slaves to a bank for the rest of their lives when wages and
jobs in those areas are shrinking, and while they watch the planet being
trashed.

------
MicroBerto
My longshot theory: Molly.

I've watched brilliant brains literally get ruined by the overuse of that
garbage. I would bet anything that it's more dangerous than any of its users
want to admit.

~~~
sevenfive
Do you know what a stroke is?

~~~
MicroBerto
Yes, do you?

Funny how the downvotes and attacks come when you discuss the possibility of
drug-induced brain damage in Millennials to a website full of.... drug-
defending Millennials!

~~~
sevenfive
I think molly is stupid, and would never try it. BUT molly-induced brain
damage is usually hyponatremia, or a subtler form of damage to the serotonin
system. not stroke.

~~~
MicroBerto
The absence of proof is not the proof of absence. Also, did I not mention
"longshot theory"?

I stand by what I said and will double down in fact. Too many people melting
their brains with that crap and there are almost definitely unforseen
consequences of doing so.

------
80211
It's mostly obesity. If we allowed for obesity as a reason to deny health
coverage, then health innsurance would be affordable.

And since it costs nothing to lose weight, it seems fair.

~~~
542458
> since it costs nothing to lose weight, it seems fair.

This is only a half truth. Starving yourself is free, but losing weight while
still eating a variety of foods (most people can't stomach 24/7 lentils) on
extreme financial (including preparation equipment) and time constraints (prep
time, time to get ingredients) is nontrivial. Look at the nutritional content
of the cheapest and most readily available food you can find (fast food,
walmart-brand sausages, etc etc etc). It's typically full of fat and sugars.
Higher-quality readily available foods are typically more expensive and harder
to come by in poorer areas. Higher-qiality food you prepare yourself is an
option, but learning how to do as such is nontrivial and the time investment
to prepare these foods can be a major challenge for some.

~~~
noir_lord
It's not that hard with proper planning (I did it, I lost 70lbs).

Takes 20 minutes for oven to eat up and 12 for pizza to cook.

In 32 minutes you can cook a healthy cheap meal with variety.

I ate porridge for breakfast, cottage cheese and salad for lunch and and
chicken/veg, fish/veg for evening meal.

