Do prediabetes and persistent tobacco use triple the risk of stroke in healthy young adults

A recent study presented at the upcoming American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2023 has unveiled a startling revelation: the synergy between persistent tobacco use and prediabetes significantly raises the risk of stroke in young adults who have no other cardiovascular risk factors.

The researchers delved into the National Inpatient Sample database.The focus was on over 1 million young tobacco users aged between 18 and 44, who were deemed metabolically healthy, meaning they had no known cardiovascular disease risk factors like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, or obesity. All of them had a medical chart diagnosis confirming their status as long-term or persistent tobacco users who were nicotine-dependent and struggled to reduce their consumption.

Among these hospital admissions, approximately two in 1,000 had prediabetes and were dependent on tobacco use.

The research findings comparing hospitalized tobacco users with prediabetes to those without prediabetes showed:

Higher rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (19.2% vs. 11.7%)

Higher prevalence of previous heart attacks (1.5% vs. 0.4%)

Higher rates of chronic kidney disease (2.5% vs. 0.9%)

Increased likelihood of hospitalization due to heart attack, stroke, or heart failure (2.9% vs. 1.4%)

Greater chances of hospitalization due to a stroke (1.9% vs. 0.5%)

Once adjusted for various potential contributing factors (including age, race, sex, household income, alcohol or drug abuse, and other medical conditions), the researchers discovered that hospitalized tobacco users with prediabetes had a staggering 3.31 times higher risk of being hospitalized due to a stroke.

Reference: AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

MEETING: American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2023