Scientists have uncovered that smoking could be behind a spate of devastating strokes among young, otherwise healthy men.
Experts have noticed a mysterious rise in strokes in the under-50s in recent years, which has, until now, left them puzzled.
Now British researchers have found evidence that suggests smoking could be to blame for some of this increase.
In a study of over 500 stroke victims aged between 18 and 49 experts found stroke risk was up to seven times higher in men who smoked.
It comes as official data show people aged 25 to 34 are the most likely to smoke Britain, with almost one in six a current smoker.
Other figures suggest uptake of smoking among in boys in parts of the UK has also been on the rise.
Phillip Ferdinand a stroke researcher from Keele University said the data highlighted the importance of continued efforts to encourage people to quit smoking.
‘Recent research has shown an increase in younger people having these unexplained strokes, so it is important to evaluate any potential links. Our study found that smoking may be a key factor,’ he said.
Scientists have uncovered that smoking could be one factor driving a rise in devastating strokes, particularly in men
The findings come after MailOnline analysis of NHS data revealed strokes among men aged under 39 have jumped by nearly a quarter over the last two decades.
By comparison, life-threatening attacks in women of the same age have risen by just 1 per cent.
In the new study, published in the journal Neurology, experts took 546 victims of a stroke with no obvious cause and matched them by their sex and exact age to another person who hadn’t suffered a stroke.
Experts then compared factors like smoking history, alcohol consumption and exercise level between these people to find any differences that might explain why some younger adults suffered a stroke.
Overall, experts found smoking rates were higher in the stroke group with one in three smoking compared to less than one in six in the control group.
Even after accounting for factors like alcohol use the researchers found that, overall, smokers had twice the risk of suffering a stroke compared to non-smokers.
However, the risk was even higher for certain groups.
Male smokers had triple the stroke risk compared to those who didn’t smoke, and the risk quadrupled in smokers of both sexes in the 45 to 49 age group.
Other – just as common – tell-tale signs of a looming stroke, often fall under the radar. These include sudden numbness on one side of the body, sudden vertigo and difficulty swallowing
Lewis Clasby suffered a stroke in his 20s, despite feeling as though he was in the best shape of his life.
Heavy smokers, those who had the equivalent of more than 20 packs of cigarettes a year, were also found to have four times the risk of a stroke.
These risk factors seemed to combine, with male heavy smokers having seven times the risk of a stroke, the highest in the study.
‘Our findings suggest that continued public health efforts around preventing smoking, especially heavy smoking, may be an important way to help reduce the number of strokes happening to young people,’ he said.
Smoking is known to increase the risk of stroke by narrowing the arteries that supply blood around the body.
This narrowing increases the risk that blood clots can cut off the supply of blood to the brain, triggering a stroke.
Quitting smoking will eventually help lower this risk, however ex-smokers can still have a higher risk of stroke, compared to a non-smoker, for about five years.
Whilst adults aged between 25 and 34 have the highest smoking rate of any age group, with 15 per cent smokers, this has declined significantly from 2011 when 23 per cent were current smokers.
Data presented by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health suggests smoking rates among boys are also on the rise in some parts of the UK.
They found smoking rates among boys under the age of 15 increased to 9 per cent in Wales in 2018, up from 7 per cent in 2014.
A similar increase was seen in Scotland with smoking rates among under-15s rising to 8 per cent, up from 7 per cent in 2015.
Other factors blamed for the increase include high stress, poor diet, sedentary habits, excessive alcohol consumption — all of which contribute to stroke-causing high blood pressure.
Additionally, some experts have suggested undiagnosed conditions like atrial fibrillation are going unnoticed in younger age groups.
In 2004-05, men under 39 made up 52.8 per cent of cases, compared to 47.2 per cent for women of the same age.
By 2023-24, this gap had widened even further, with men representing nearly two thirds of all cases, while the share of women dropped to 42.3 per cent.
Stroke is a leading global cause of death and disability.
There are more than 100,000 strokes in the UK each year, about one every five minutes.
You can see the benefits of stopping smoking after just 20 minutes, as your heart rate will begin to return to normal. If you manage to quit the habit for a year, your risk of heart attack will have halved. The graphic shows the changes you can notice in your body when you stop smoking
This leads to 38,000 stroke deaths every year making it the UK’s fourth biggest killer and a leading cause of disability.
In the US more than 795,000 people suffer a stroke each year, of which 137,000 die.
One person who knows the devastating impact of a stroke on a young person is Lewis Clasby, from Portsmouth.
Mr Clasby suffered a severe stroke at 29 despite having no pre-existing health conditions.
When he collapsed at home, he initially believed he had passed out and went back to sleep.
Even after waking later in hot sweats, he delayed calling an ambulance in fear of wasting responders’ time.
He said: ‘The last thing on my mind was that I could be having a stroke.
‘When they told me I thought not a chance, there was no way I could be having a stroke.’
He added: ‘I worked so hard to get where I was, in my eyes your 30s are when you start living.
‘I’d just had a kid, I had my own house, I had a partner, I literally had everything and then within one day it was just gone.
‘My whole life changed within a second.’
Mr Clasby previously worked as a machinist but had to move to the sales office at his company in the aftermath of the stroke.
