Skip to main content

Clinical Practice Guidelines Updated for Primary Prevention of Stroke

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Oct 29, 2024.

via HealthDay

MONDAY, Oct. 28, 2024 -- In a clinical guideline issued by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association and published online Oct. 21 in Stroke, updated recommendations are presented for the primary prevention of stroke.

Cheryl Bushnell, M.D., from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to update guidelines for the primary prevention of stroke.

The authors note that to identify and achieve opportunities to promote brain health, every person should have access to and regular visits with a primary care health professional. In the approach to prevention of incident stroke, screening for and addressing adverse social determinants of health are important; in care settings where at-risk stroke patients may be evaluated, screening for social determinants of health is recommended. The Mediterranean diet pattern has been shown to reduce the risk for stroke, especially when supplemented with nuts and olive oil; low-fat diets have limited impact on reducing risk. For cardiovascular health and stroke risk reduction, physical activity is essential; an increased risk for stroke is seen in association with prolonged sedentary behavior. For patients with diabetes and high cardiovascular risk or established cardiovascular disease, glucagon-like protein-1 receptor agonists are recommended.

"Implementing the recommendations in this guideline would make it possible to significantly reduce the risk of people having a first stroke," Bushnell said in a statement. "Most strategies that we recommend for preventing stroke will also help reduce the risk of dementia."

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and medico-legal industries.

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

Lung Cancer Screening Beneficial to Age 80 for Candidates Fit for Surgery

FRIDAY, Sept. 12, 2025 -- People aged 75 to 80 years at last screen who are diagnosed with screen-detected lung cancer (LC) have lower overall survival, but those undergoing...

Sex Differences Seen in Characteristics, Course of Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder

FRIDAY, Sept. 12, 2025 -- Significant sex differences are seen in the characteristics and course of schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD), according to a study published...

Potentially Inappropriate Medications Linked to Frailty at Cancer Diagnosis

FRIDAY, Sept. 12, 2025 -- For patients with newly diagnosed cancer, an increasing number of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), as identified by the Geriatric Oncology...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.