Changing lifestyles, smoking and the genetic makeup of Indians is resulting in 20-30 percent of people below 40 suffering debilitating strokes, neurological experts said here Tuesday.

"As against three to five percent of people below 55 years in developed countries suffering strokes, in India around 20-30 percent people below 40 years suffer strokes," D. Nagaraja, director and vice chancellor of Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences told IANS.

"While strokes among the young have lesser mortality, morbidity is definitely there, leading to paralysis or some other impairments," Nagaraja said on the sidelines of a conference organised here by the Ranbaxy Science Foundation.

A stroke is a sudden interruption of blood flow to a part of the brain. Without blood, certain brain cells may die. The resulting brain damage can lead the loss of some bodily functions.

Experts said the large difference in the rate of strokes among young Indians and those in the west may to some extent be discounted due to the fact that in the developed countries like the US the average age of a storke is considered to be 55 and above, unlike 45 years here.

New epidemiological studies suggest that hypertension, heart disease, lifestyle, malnutrition and inherited genetics are among common causes of strokes.

"In 20 percent of the cases, diabetes is the known cause of strokes, while in the remaining 50 percent, lifestyle is the cause and the rest are due to genetic risk factors. In the case of pregnant women, venous stroke or blockage of veins is very high in India," said Nagaraja.

The risk of stroke during pregnancy is greatest in the post-partum period - the six weeks following childbirth.

In India, strokes in post-partum period is relatively high at four to 38.9 percent in 100,000 deliveries, said M. V. Padma, additional professor department of Neurology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

"Among the risk factors peculiar to India are changing lifestyle like McDonaldism and Coco-Colaism, bad fats in our diet, hyper cogulation of blood, infection, dietary factors and genetics," said Padma.

In the case of vegetarians, the lack of Vitamin B12, B6 and folic acid is the other contributing factor, said experts.

"High levels of amino acid homocysteine, long implicated in heart attacks, also increase the risk of strokes. Homocysteine increases in the blood due to lack of Vitamin B12, B6 and folic acid in the vegetarian diet," said Padma.

Another factor noticed among Indians is the hardening of arteries due to consumption of bad fats in diet.

Based on her study, Padma said, "Around 20-25 percent of patients have this problem of large arteries due to the hardening of blood vessels."

Her advise to pregnant women is ensure against dehydration post delivery and not follow the old wives tales of water intake being harmful.

"Chances are that besides the crude instruments used for delivery in the villages the women are not allowed to take water post delivery leading to dehydration which can lead to a stroke," said Padma.

While many of the genetic risk factors for strokes are known, experts say it is still too early to say anything conclusively. In addition, there is no uniformity of data between those in India and in the developing world due to the changing demography and a largely young population here.

"However it has been found out that in 33 percent of the cases smoking, particularly by young people, is a contributing factor for strokes at an early age," said Padma.

--Indo-Asian News Service