Your risk of having a stroke before age 50 shoots up if you have this common condition shared by 8M Americans

Rates of young people suffering from strokes have been on the rise, with a CDC report last year finding a 14.6% increase in people aged 18-44 and a 15.7% increase from ages 45-64.

Even more troubling is that in many cases, these people lack traditional risk factors.

“Up to half of all ischemic strokes in younger adults are of unknown causes, and they are more common in women,” said Dr. Jukka Putaala, head of the stroke unit at Helsinki University Hospital in Finland and lead author of the study.

A new study aimed to figure out which risk factors have the biggest impact — and found a surprising link to a fairly common condition.

The team looked at 12 traditional risk factors (including ones like diabetes, smoking and obesity) and 10 nontraditional factors — which include autoimmune disease, IBS, chronic kidney disease, and having migraines with aura.

They found that each nontraditional risk factor a patient had increased their stroke risk by a whopping 70%.

It’s even worse for people who also have a common heart defect called patent foramen ovale (PFO), which affects 1 in 4 people. For them, those nontraditional risk factors more than double their stroke risk.

And among all those nontraditional risk factors, the researchers found migraines with aura to be the worst.

“We were aware of the important role of migraine with aura in this patient population based on earlier knowledge but were surprised that it was so profound, especially when its prevalence and strength of association were put in perspective with traditional stroke risk factors,” lead investigator Dr. Jukka Putaala told Medscape Medical News.

About 39 million Americans suffer from migraines, and 20% experience an aura, in which intense headaches are accompanied by sensory issues like flashing lights and blind spots.

That means roughly 8 million people in the US could be at an increased risk of stroke due to this condition.

And migraines in general are more common in women, who account for more than three times as many cases as men.

“Why migraine carries a high risk of cryptogenic stroke in the young is a complex question and warrants further research,” Putaala added, noting that young women should be asked about their migraine history by doctors.

“For effective prevention, careful and routine assessment of both traditional and nontraditional risk factors in younger people is critical,” he said.

Women-specific factors like gestational diabetes or pregnancy complications also played a major role, increasing stroke risk by 70% regardless of whether the risk was traditional or nontraditional.

But before you rush to the doctor because you’re seeing bright spots or zigzagging lines with your headache, keep in mind that the study has some limitations.

First off, it was observational, meaning the researchers were reviewing existing data, so they can’t prove cause and effect, just a correlation. 

The findings also rely on self-reported risk factors, which can be unreliable. Plus, the study sample was mostly white, which limits how broadly the results can be applied to other demographics.

Strokes aren’t just for seniors

Every year, more than 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke — that’s one every 40 seconds. Strokes claim about 140,000 lives in the US annually, making it the fifth leading cause of death and a major driver of disability.

While strokes in seniors over 65 remain the most common, the number of strokes in younger adults is rising. Some studies show a increase of up to 15% in recent years.

Doctors have speculated that the surge could be linked to poor diets, lack of exercise, growing obesity rates and a rise in chronic health conditions among younger adults. However, this new study suggests that nontraditional risk factors are also playing a role.

“Recognizing specific risks that affect women and those not commonly seen … could change our approach to screening for these risks and educating our patients throughout their lives,” said Dr. Tracy E. Madsen, American Heart Association chair of the Clinical Cardiology/Stroke Women’s Health Science Committee, who was not involved in the study. 

This could have a major impact on improving stroke outcomes—or even preventing them altogether. Experts estimate that about 80% of strokes are avoidable with lifestyle changes and proper management of risk factors.