2024 Guideline for the Primary Prevention of Stroke

Published: October 21, 2024

Brain food resembling a brain
  • Ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes lead to significant disability, yet are preventable. The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s 2024 Primary Prevention of Stroke Guideline updates the previous guideline for clinicians, published in 2014, and details prevention strategies for people with no prior history of stroke.
  • The new guidance aligns with the AHA’s Life’s Essential 8 for optimizing cardiovascular and brain health and adds sex-specific suggestions for screening and prevention of stroke, including assessment of social determinants of health.
  • Other relevant topics include evaluation of Mediterranean and low-fat diets, the importance of physical activity, new guidance for using GLP-1 medications in people with diabetes and a high risk of stroke, blood pressure management, the uses of antiplatelet therapy, and prevention of pregnancy-related stroke.
 

Video: 2024 Guideline for the Primary Prevention of Stroke

Cheryl Bushnell, MD, MHS, FAHA, Anjail Sharrief, MD, MPH, FAHA and Walter Kernan, MD announce the publication of the newly updated 2024 Guideline for the Primary Prevention of Stroke and discuss some of the many advances in prevention that have been made in the decade since the last update.