MONDAY, Nov. 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Birth cohort seems to affect the risk of ischemic stroke, with lower age-adjusted rates for those born from 1945 to 1954 versus those born in earlier and later years, according to a study published online Nov. 23 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Joel N. Swerdel, M.P.H., from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., and colleagues obtained ischemic stroke and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) data for 1995 to 2014 from the Myocardial Infarction Data Acquisition System database of hospital discharges in New Jersey.
The researchers found that from 1995-1999 to 2010-2014, the rate of stroke more than doubled in patients aged 35 to 39 years (rate ratio, 2.47). Increased rates of stroke were also seen in those aged 40 to 44, 45 to 49, and 50 to 54 years. During these time periods, the rates of stroke decreased among those 55 years and older. The age-adjusted rates of stroke were lower for those born from 1945 to 1954 compared with those both in the prior 20 years and the following 20 years. In contrast, there was a decrease in STEMI rates in all age groups and successive birth cohorts.
"There appears to be a significant birth cohort effect in the risk of stroke, where patients born from 1945 to 1954 have lower age-adjusted rates of stroke compared with those born in earlier and later years," the authors write.
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