More children and young adults in the US are having strokes - with unhealthy lifestyles being a likely cause, scientists have said.

Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysed hospital data on up to eight million patients a year between 1995 and 2008. In Annals of Neurology, they say stroke rates in five to 44-year-olds rose by about a third in under 10 years.

Higher blood pressure, diabetes and obesity were common in stroke patients.

The researchers looked at figures for ischemic stroke, due to blood clots, and haemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding on the brain.The rate of ischemic stroke increased by 31% in five to 14-year-olds, from 3.2 strokes per 10,000 hospital cases to 4.2 per 10,000.

There were increases of 30% for people aged 15 to 34 and 37% in patients between the ages of 35 and 44. In all age groups the increase was greater in men than in women.

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