More people in 30-40 age group prone to stroke

Initial symptoms are often missed or misinterpreted as weakness.

Doctors at a private referral hospital in Yeshwantpur were surprised when a 26-year-old entrepreneur from Nelamangala was brought in recently with the classic symptoms of a brain stroke.

Although he was brought in nine hours after the onset of symptoms, the doctors were able to save him. “The window period for treatment of stroke is 4.5 hours,” said Guruprasad Hosurkar, consultant neurophysician at Columbia Asia Hospital.

Describing the patient as the youngest brain stroke victim he had treated, Dr. Hosurkar told

The Hindu on Wednesday that of late people in the age group of 30 years to 40 years were becoming increasingly prone to brain strokes. Sedentary lifestyles, smoking, poor eating habits, stress and early onset of lifestyle-related disorders were the main risk factors.

The doctors, along with Vikram Huded, Head of Interventional Neurology and Stroke at Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Neuroscience, on Wednesday released a survey conducted by the Indian Stroke Association on the awareness of stroke among the public.

The survey (whose sample size of 1,507 had 250 Bangaloreans) showed that awareness is high among people in the city compared to other cities. However, initial symptoms are often missed or misinterpreted as weakness, said Dr. Huded.

People should not ignore warning signs such as dizziness, sudden weakness in limbs and difficulty in speaking or understanding words. These symptoms, which are linked to a transient ischemic stroke (TIA), disappear within 24 hours, the doctor said.