Stroke prevention and brain health

Stroke prevention and brain health

Mukul Sharma, Raed Joundi and Ashkan Shoamanesh discuss the causes of strokes alongside current and emerging approaches to prevention. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines brain health as the state of functioning of the brain including cognition, perception and movement that allows a person to realize their full potential. Preventing damage to the brain is an integral part of brain health. At individual and population levels, preventing injury to the brain is critical to maintaining brain health. Worldwide, about 12 million new strokes occur each year, and the number is expected to approximately double by 2050. About one in four people over the age of 25 will have a stroke. While strokes occur at all ages, the occurrence of stroke significantly increases over the age of 55 and roughly doubles for each decade thereafter. Stroke is now the second leading cause of death and a leading cause of neurological disability. In addition to the immense human cost to those who have a stroke and their loved ones, the estimated cost of stroke in 2017 was over $890 billion and is projected to rise to ~ $1.6 trillion by 2050.