In the past 3 decades, a large number of studies have been
published on the incidence of stroke in young adults. The
results of these studies have been rather heterogeneous in
terms of methodology and ethnicity. A systematic review
on the incidence of stroke in young adults was published
by Marini et al,5
who analyzed 29 studies including
3,589 patients under 45 years of age with first-ever stroke,
published between 1980 and 2009. Crude rates ranged from
5.76/100,000 to 39.79/100,000 and standardized rates ranged
from 6.14/100,000 to 48.51/100,000. In the same review, the
proportion of ischemic strokes ranged between 21.0% and
77.9%, intracerebral hemorrhage between 3.7% and 38.5%,
and subarachnoid hemorrhage between 9.6% and 55.4%.
In a recent study from Bosnia and Herzegovina, ischemic
stroke among young adults was diagnosed in 61% of cases,
intracerebral hemorrhage in 17%, and subarachnoid hemorrhage
in 22%.6