The incidence of strokes is declining in older people but rising in younger people, researchers from the University of Oxford have found.

They analyzed the incidence of strokes in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, from 2002 to 2018, based on data from the Oxford Vascular Study, which included 94,567 participants. Researchers found that during that time, the incidence of stroke increased by 67% among younger people (under 55) and decreased by 15% among older people (55 and older). They also accounted for other factors: lifestyle, changes in diagnostic techniques, control of traditional vascular risk factors and participants' sex. The researchers found no similar relationship for heart attacks.

There was a significant increase in the proportion of those in management positions among young people who had a stroke. This may indicate a role for work-related stress, low physical activity and long hours, each of which had previously been more strongly associated with stroke risk than with heart attack, according to a paper by scientists in the journal JAMA.

Major vascular risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. They are not thought to play a significant role in the development of stroke in young people, but the scientists' work shows that stroke among young people is a growing problem in high-income countries.