Background: Young population is the most productive age group in a community and contributes major share to the economy. The impact,stroke can leave is disproportionately large.Public health efforts addressing stroke in young is very scarce.Further research is needed in this field to decrease the burden of the disease in our society.The aim of our study was to find out the risk factors and to study the clinical and etiological profile of stroke in young. Materials and Methods: This is a hospital-based prospective cross sectional study in patients in the age group 18-45 years,attending the Neurology Outpatient Department,casualty and Department of Internal Medicine of a tertiary care centre, in central Tamil Nadu, with history suggestive of stroke and in whom brain imaging showed evidence of stroke. The study was done for a period of 1 year. Results:Among the 160 young persons with stroke , most affected were males(68.75%),ischemic stroke was seen in 50.625%, followed by intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in 35.0%, cortical venous thrombosis(CVT) in 7.5%,subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH) in 6.875%. Hemiparesis was the most common presenting symptom.Alcohol consumption was the most prevalent risk factor for development of stroke, followed by other risk factors such as smoking and hypertension. Conclusion: Stroke was predominantly seen in young male patients.Other than the traditional risk factors which are associated with stroke in young, unfavorable behavioral patterns like alcohol abuse,smoking also may promote development of stroke in young.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Hemiparesis; Hemorrhage; Ischemia; Subarachnoid.