When it comes to health, baby boomers need no lesson. The rate of stroke is lower than ever in this generation. Young people are more at risk.
It is a blessed generation, in the collective spirit. Full employment, quality of life, health… It’s a bit as if a good fairy had bent over the cradles of baby boomers. A hard work which obviously paid off, in view of this study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Conducted by Rutgers University (United States), it shows that the rate of stroke is historically low in members of this generation. Their predecessors and their successors were less fortunate.
A golden decade
The window to take advantage of this advantage is narrow: only people born between 1945 and 1954 experienced a very low rate of stroke. To reach this conclusion, the researchers combed through New Jersey state health data. All medical files opened due to stroke between 1995 and 2014 were collected, 225,000 in total. The patients were then separated into 5 groups, based on their decade of birth. It was then that the protection of baby boomers.
Over the period observed, only one age group experienced a decline in the rate of stroke: the over 55s. The other classes are almost wiped out. Among 35-39 year olds, the incidence has more than doubled, just like among 40-44 year olds. The progression is slower in the upper decade. Before and after the “golden decade” therefore, strokes explode.
Rising risk factors
Upon seeing these numbers, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) praised the success of the prevention campaigns. In fact, smoking has fallen sharply among baby boomers, as are high blood pressure and excess cholesterol. But Joel Swerdel, first author of this study, puts forward other explanations, starting with the slightest presence of obesity. The baby boom generation has apparently been relatively untouched by the scourge.
Today, in contrast, 13% of the world’s population suffers from obesity. “Diabetes has grown steadily for 40 years, and it is particularly seen in the younger generations,” adds Joel Swerdel. This is a known risk factor for stroke. Not to mention that tobacco is enjoying renewed success among the youngest, who will be less observant.
If the risk factors multiply, prevention, it fails. “People, especially under 50, are not aware of the fact that stroke does not occur only in the elderly, and that the after-effects can be much more disabling than those of a heart attack”, laments Joel. Swerdel. The repercussions of a stroke are however heavy and lasting.
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