Lifestyle Factors and Stroke Prevention: From the Individual to the Community

The overwhelming majority of stroke burden can be prevented through the pillars of lifestyle medicine: diet, exercise, sleep, substance abuse, stress management, and healthy relationships. Among these, diet confers the greatest attributable risk.

Despite abundant data and integration of lifestyle medicine within major stroke prevention guidelines, several barriers to effective implementation remain. These include lack of emphasis in medical education, integration in hospital certification metrics, reimbursement from medical insurance, and health policy that inadequately addresses social determinants of health. However, both top-down and bottom-up solutions introduced within the last few years are helping to break down these barriers. This review highlights recent literature and interventions that are closing the gap between the theory and practice of stroke prevention through lifestyle risk factors from a US perspective.

By strategically targeting the various institutional barriers, it is possible and essential to substantially reduce stroke burden.