By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Younger adults
who suffered a stroke were often smokers or had abused drugs or
alcohol, in a new study from Ohio and Kentucky. Although strokes
are often thought of as a condition of the elderly, researchers
said long-term changes in the heart, arteries and blood as a
result of drug abuse or heavy drinking may put users at higher-
than-average risk earlier in life. It's also possible that some
drugs, particularly cocaine and methamphetamines, may trigger a
stroke more immediately, according to Dr. S. Andrew Josephson, a
neurologist from the University of California, San Francisco,
who has studied drug use and stroke. Because substance use is
common in older adults as well, he said doctors should ask
anyone who's had a stroke about drugs and alcohol. But, "we know
that even with vascular risk factors that are prevalent -
smoking, high blood pressure… most people still don't have a
stroke until they're older," Josephson, who was not involved in
the new study, told R