In previous years, Vietnam recorded over 200,000 stroke cases annually. Experts believe this number is now much higher. The disease is no longer just common among middle-aged and elderly people but is rapidly affecting younger individuals. Stroke cases occurring with people under 45 years account for 15 percent of those recorded at stroke centers.

Associate Prof Ta Ba Thang, PhD, Deputy Director of Military Hospital 103 (Hanoi), said strokes are the second leading cause of death among the top 10 internal medicine diseases worldwide. In Vietnam, it ranks first. Many survivors suffer severe disabilities.

“Stroke emergency centers and hospitals are always overloaded. Just at People’s Hospital 115 in HCM City, nearly 20,000 cases are handled annually. The figure is 2.500 at  Military Hospital 103,” Thang said.

Associate Prof Mai Duy Ton, PhD, Director of the Stroke Center at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, said that in the last four years of operation, the center admitted an average of about 10,000 patients per year, with some months reaching up to 1,000 cases. 

One night, doctors received six emergency cases, all under 45 years old, with only four surviving. Notably, during the 9-day Tet holiday in the Year of the Snake, the center handled 566 stroke emergencies.

During the same period, Associate Prof Nguyen Huy Thang, PhD, Head of the Cerebrovascular Disease Department at People’s Hospital 115, reported receiving 380 stroke cases, with 80 percent being ischemic strokes and 20 percent hemorrhagic strokes. Young patients accounted for 15 to 20 percent.

In 2024 alone, this medical facility admitted over 17,000 stroke patients, the highest number to date.

In the Mekong Delta region, Can Tho Stroke Hospital received 50,000 emergency cases in 2024, including 26,000 stroke cases. In the previous five years, the average was 20,000 cases per year. Patients saved within the golden window (3.5 to 4 hours after symptoms) accounted for 22 percent.

Previously, strokes mainly appeared in old people, but the number of young people dying from strokes is rising. Stroke cases under 45 years old recorded at stroke centers make up 15 percent. Of the over 500 stroke emergencies at Bach Mai Hospital during Tet, patients under 50 years old reached 45 percent.

According to Dr Khong Huu Phu from the Stroke Center at Phu Tho Provincial General Hospital, since early 2025, the center has admitted over 10 stroke cases in young people, including both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes.

On February 27, a 21-year-old man was hospitalized due to an ischemic stroke. A few days earlier, a 31-year-old man with no prior health issues was rushed to hospital nine hours after a stroke. He woke up dizzy and then fell in the bathroom.

In the first two months of 2025, this Stroke Center admitted 390 cases.

Other hospitals have also recorded many young patients with no prior abnormal symptoms. A 32-year-old man who was playing badminton with friends suddenly experienced paralysis on one side and speech loss, leading to an emergency visit to the Stroke Center at Bach Mai Hospital, where doctors diagnosed a stroke.

Tran Chi Cuong, PhD, Chair of the HCM City Neurointervention Society, said stroke emergencies are currently one of the most prominent issues in medicine, not just in Vietnam but globally.

While cancer used to be the biggest fear, strokes and cardiovascular diseases are now the top concerns for critical health conditions. The world is witnessing a rapid increase in strokes.

Dr Cuong stressed that humans are both victims and culprits of strokes. Beyond unchangeable factors like age, genetics, and congenital defects causing strokes in the young, alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy diets are leading triggers.

If someone starts smoking at 18, by around 40, their stroke risk is 10 times higher than a non-smoker’s. Issues like overweight, obesity, inactivity, and high cholesterol leading to diabetes and hypertension increase stroke rates in the community.

Other factors such as environment, food, stress, or excessive mental or physical exertion can also cause strokes.

Diagnosing a stroke isn’t difficult. At major medical facilities, it takes just 15 minutes for doctors to assess causes like vascular malformations, brain hemorrhages, or ischemic strokes.

The problem is that when the three classic signs—facial drooping, limb weakness, and speech difficulty—appear, patients might mistake it for a wind attack and use traditional methods to improve their conditions. Some patients take An Cung Nguu Hoang Hoan pills, thus increasing the risk of choking and death.

Vo Thu