Efforts to save lives and minds

Stroke prevention - in the main - calls for basic actions to reduce risk factors. And those efforts can pay off in the long run, including reducing dementia that often sets in years after a stroke occurs.

While these actions to reduce stroke and dementia risk can't reduce the risks by 100 percent, they are logical and smart, as reported by MedlinePlus:

Over the course of five years, patients treated by doctors focused on reducing risk factors saw their need for long-term care drop by about 10 percent compared to the communities that didn't have this intervention. The study also showed that the cost of inpatient treatment for these patients was reduced.

The researchers believe a focus on curbing stroke and dementia risk factors decreased the number of deaths in the intervention group from the expected 2,112 people to just 1,939.

In order to prevent stroke and dementia, doctors encouraged patients to:

• Get more exercise
• Eat a healthier diet
• Stop smoking
• Reduce high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels

Read the entire article from the above link.

(Image from the National Library of Medicine)