New York doctors are warning coronavirus may cause sudden strokes in healthy adults in their 30s and 40s.
Doctors at Mount Sinai Health System say there is growing evidence blood clots, which can cause strokes, are occurring in patients with mild or no COVID-19 symptoms, CNN reported.
Neurosurgeon Dr Thomas Oxley said, "The virus seems to be causing increased clotting in the large arteries, leading to severe stroke".
Dr Oxley said the team normally treats a maximum of two strokes per month in people under 50-years-old but in two weeks during the pandemic, they treated five.
"Our report shows a seven-fold increase in incidence of sudden stroke in young patients during the past two weeks," he told CNN.
"Most of these patients have no past medical history and were at home with either mild symptoms (or in two cases, no symptoms) of COVID. All tested positive."
He says the doctors are worried patients may not immediately call for health assistance as hospitals in New York are believed to be overwhelmed from the pandemic. Two of the patients he treated for strokes were delayed in calling 911.
The findings are expected to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
