World Stroke Day

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the risk of having a first stroke is twice as high for non-Hispanic Black adults than for White adults. October 29 is World Stroke Day which provides an annual focal point for stroke awareness activities around the world.

This year, the World Stroke Organization is channeling the emotional power of sports to drive stroke awareness and to motivate us all to take action every day to reduce stroke risk. Learn more about stroke prevalence and join the #GreaterThan Challenge to help raise awareness and prevent stroke.

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In addition to raising awareness and preventing stroke, the American Stroke Association (ASA) has issued an updated guideline for primary stroke prevention. The first update in a decade, the 2024 Guideline for the Primary Prevention of Stroke, replaces the 2014 version and is intended to be a resource for clinicians to help them implement a variety of prevention strategies in patients with no previous history of stroke. It aligns with the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8.

Medscape Medical News published on October 21, 2024, ASA Releases New Primary Stroke Prevention Guideline. Dr. Cheryl Bushnell, MD, MHS, FAHA, and vice chair of the research, Department of Neurology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, told Medscape Medical News.

“This guideline is an important and timely update from 2014 for multiple reasons. First, there have been groundbreaking clinical trials that have been published with new medications to not only treat the target disease [including] diabetes/obesity and high cholesterol], but also lower the risk of stroke and heart disease.” – Dr. Cheryl Bushnell