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Young
adults who have an overactive thyroid face a much greater
risk of stroke than people without the condition, Taiwanese
researchers report. "This is a well-controlled analysis, and
patients with hyperthyroidism should receive prompt
treatment to prevent these complications”, the director of
stroke services at the University of Massachusetts in
Worcester said. For the study, researchers collected data on
3,176 young adults with hyperthyroidism from the School of
Health Care Administration in the College of Medicine at
Taipei Medical University. They compared these people with
25,408 similar people who did not have hyperthyroidism. The
average age was 32. The researchers followed the patients
for five years. During that time, 198 people suffered a
stroke, including 31 of patients with hyperthyroidism and
167 without it, the researchers found. After taking
into account factors such as age, sex, income, environment,
high blood pressure, diabetes, an irregular heart rhythm
called atrial fibrillation, high cholesterol, coronary heart
disease and whether they were taking medication to treat
heart rhythm problems, the risk of having a stroke was 44
percent higher for patients with hyperthyroidism than for
those without it, the research team found. "Our study shows
an association between hyperthyroidism and the risk of
subsequent ischemic stroke in young adults," the scientist
said. "A more thorough evaluation in future studies may help
elucidate the causes of stroke in this age group. Our
results indicate a need for thyroid function testing and
detection of hyperthyroidism in surveys to identify the
causes of ischemic stroke in young people”, he added. In
older adults, hyperthyroidism is associated with atrial
fibrillation, which can lead to stroke or sudden cardiac
death. However, this relationship has not been documented in
younger adults, the researcher said. Treating the
hyperthyroidism would probably eliminate the risk factors
associated with the risk of a stroke, the scientist added.
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