Education Status and Ischemic Stroke in Young: A Potential Target towards Future Population Based Preventive Strategies. (P5.117)

Background: Strokes in young individuals have increased by 25% over the past 20 years and are estimated to double by 2030. While traditional modifiable risk factors of stroke do contribute to the rising incidence of stroke in young individuals, there is little known data about the association of educational status and risk factors of stroke among young Ischemic Stroke (IS) patients. Objective: To determine whether risk factors differ between IS patients based on their presence or absence of college education. Methods: Patients selected for this study were of ages 18 to 45 years presented with IS at the University of Louisville Hospital between March 2010 and May 2013. The relative risk (RR) of various risk factors was calculated for IS patients with no college education (NCE) versus those having some college education (CE). Results: Data regarding education status was collected on 95 young IS, with median age 35 and 36 for NCE and CE group respectively. There was a significantly higher proportion of smokers (RR = 1.6, P=0.0481), drug abuse as evident from positive urine drug screen (RR=8.3, P=0.0349) and alcohol abuse (RR=3.1, P=0.0199) in the NCE group as compared to CE group. Hypertension, migraine and lipid indices (low HDL, high LDL and high non-HDL) showed a trend toward a higher RR associated with lack of college education. A trend was noted in young IS patient with CE to being overweight and having a family history of stroke. Conclusion: Risk factors associated with IS in young patients are different among those with NCE as compared with those having CE. Larger studies need to be performed to expand on our knowledge of risk factors in NCE and CE young IS individuals which can help target population based preventive measures to decrease the rising incidence and burden of stroke in the young. Disclosure: Dr. Vaishnav has nothing to disclose. Dr. Vaishnav has nothing to disclose.