Stroke among young adults: Lifestyle linked to increasing cases

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For many years, stroke was widely regarded as a disease of old age and a condition associated with advanced years and rarely considered a threat to people in their 20s or 30s.

Today, that perception is rapidly changing. Doctors across Uganda are raising concerns over a growing number of young adults being diagnosed with stroke, a development they describe as both alarming and preventable.

At Mulago National Referral Hospital, specialists say the shift is no longer subtle — it is visible on the wards.

“The number of patients we are seeing who are relatively young, below 35 years, is increasing each and every passing year," Head of the Neurosurgical Unit at Mulago Hospital, Dr Joel Kiryabwire, says. 

“There is an increasing number of patients coming in with stroke, and the days when we believed stroke was a disease for older people are changing.”

Stroke is currently ranked among the leading causes of death in Uganda, placing fifth in recent years. At Mulago alone, about five stroke patients are admitted daily. While age remains a risk factor, doctors say a worrying proportion of these admissions now involve people under 35.

Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted. This can happen when a blood vessel is blocked by a clot, known as an ischemic stroke, or when a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into the brain, referred to as a haemorrhagic stroke. In both cases, brain cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die within minutes, often leading to permanent damage, disability, or death if treatment is delayed.

Doctors say the medical causes of stroke have not significantly changed. What has changed is lifestyle.

“Last year, our facility saw more than 1,000 patients, and I can confirm that 70 per cent of them were young people between 25 and 35 years,” Dr Ibrahim Bukenya of the Stroke Rehabilitation Centre in Wampewo told New Vision Online.

“The major causes have not changed so much. I would say the increase is largely because of lifestyle.”

He explained that many young patients present with preventable risk factors.

“Among young people, the major causes are largely lifestyle-related. Many have high cholesterol levels, some smoke, and others drink alcohol excessively. These factors significantly increase their risk of stroke.”

Other risk factors increasingly seen among young adults include uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, drug use, and physical inactivity. Long hours seated in offices, dependence on motorised transport instead of walking, frequent consumption of fast foods, and chronic stress are silently increasing vulnerability.

According to both specialists, high blood pressure remains the leading cause of stroke. However, many young people do not routinely check their blood pressure. Others stop taking medication once they feel better, mistakenly believing the problem has been resolved.

“The emphasis must be that your blood pressure is normal,” Kiryabwire says.

“Even when you are having a bad day, it should be normal. If it shoots very high, it means it is not being managed well.”

Stress is another growing concern. Modern lifestyles demand long working hours, financial pressure, and little rest.

Doctors warn that constant stress can elevate blood pressure and worsen underlying health conditions. They recommended adequate sleep, regular exercise, healthy diets, and periodic breaks from work to allow the body to recover.

Equally troubling is the tendency among young people to ignore warning signs. A sudden severe headache that feels unusual, weakness on one side of the body, slurred speech, blurred vision, loss of balance, or sudden collapse should never be dismissed.

Stroke treatment is highly time-sensitive, and delays can result in irreversible brain damage, according to Bukenya.

He adds that recovery, while possible, is often long and costly. Rehabilitation may take months, and some patients never fully regain lost function. In government facilities, therapy costs about shillings 20,000 daily, while private centres charge between 30,000 and 50,000 per session, sometimes requiring multiple sessions daily.

Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 15 million people suffer a stroke each year. Of these, five million die and another five million are left permanently disabled.

WHO warns that low- and middle-income countries, including those in sub-Saharan Africa, are facing a growing stroke burden driven largely by lifestyle changes and poorly controlled non-communicable diseases.