The series of ischemic stroke in young adults presented by Adams and coworkers in the May 1995 issue of the Archives represents a major and remarkable effort to describe the causes of ischemic stroke in young adults examined in a single institution.1 Because of our interest in stroke in this age group, we wish to point out some differences between the series we have presented2-4 and the one presented by Adams et al that can explain the discrepant results concerning the risk of recurrence and long-term prognosis found in the two series.3,5
1. Nonatherosclerotic vasculopathy (including 14 patients with Moyamoya's syndrome), hematologic disorders, and other conditions accounted for 119 cases (36%) in the Iowa series but for only 28 (12%) of 233 patients in our series from 1972 through 19862 and for 42 (16%) of 260 patients in our series from 1985 through 1993.4
2.