Stroke in Saudi Arabian young adults: a study of 120 cases

One hundred and twenty cases of stroke occurring in Saudi Arabian subjects aged 15 to 45 years are reviewed. These constituted 12.7% of a group of 946 stroke patients. Males outnumbered females (76/44). The frequency of intracranial hemorrhage, including subarachnoid hemorrhage, was slightly lower than cerebral infarction (41.5 vs 58.5%). The causes of large cerebral infarction were as follows: atherosclerosis 17 (28%), cardiac embolism 12 (19.5%), uncommon and uncertain causes 21 (34.5%). Some unusual causes were encountered such as dissecting arterial aneurysm due to popular healing manoeuvres or to traditional dance, retrograde embolism from a thoracic outlet syndrome or embolism from a fibroelastoma of the mitral valve chorda. Lacunar cerebral infarction was diagnosed in nine cases. Hypertension (25.5%) and arteriovenous malformations (20.5%) were the main causes of cerebral hemorrhage; all subarachnoid hemorrhages except one were due to berry aneurysms. The cause was undetermined in 16% of cerebral infarction and 26% of intracranial hemorrhage. The high frequency of stroke in young Saudi Arabian adults is probably a reflection of the demographic structure of the predominantly young Saudi society. The observed causes were relatively similar to those in industrial societies. Contrary to other developing countries infectious disease no longer seems to be an important cause of stroke. Drug abuse, which is becoming an important cause in Western societies, was encountered in only two of our cases.