Stroke occurs when there is a functional abnormality in the brain meaning there is a poor blood supply in some part of the brain or there is a blood clot that block the artery in the brain. Stroke is the primary brain disorder in the United States and in the world. Although preventive efforts have brought about a steady decline in incidence over the last several years, stroke is still the third leading cause of death.

Approximately 500,000 people experience a new stroke, 100,000 experience recurrent stroke and approximately 160,000 die of stroke each year. With over 4 millions survivors, 2.2 million men and 2.3 million women, still stoke is the leading cause of serious long term disability in the United States.

Primary prevention of stroke is the best approach. Stroke risk screenings are an ideal opportunity to lower the risk of stroke by identifying high risk individuals or groups and educating them about recognition and prevention of stroke.

Advanced age, gender, and race are well known nonmodifiable risk factors for stroke. Specially, high risk groups include people over the age of 55, because the incidence of stroke more than doubles in each successive decade, and men, who have a higher rate of stroke than women due to the higher prevalence of women in the elderly population, however, the absolute numbers of men and women with stroke are similar.

Another high risk groups is African Americans; the incidence of first stroke of African Americans is almost twice than Caucasians. African Americans also suffer more extensive physical impairment and are twice as likely to die from stroke as Caucasian. Hispanic, Native American Indian, Alaska Native and Pacific Islander ethnic groups also have higher relative risk of stroke compared to Caucasian.

Modifiable risk factors include hypertension and cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking and diabetes.

For people at high risk, there are ways to prevent these modifiable factors, such as treating hypertension, make sure that blood pressure is  regularly check and it must be within the normal level then avoid eating food that is rich in saturated fats, reduce salt intake and increase fiber in the diet.

Control diabetes or your sugar level because of its higher risk for developing stroke. If smoking is part of lifestyle, it is advisable to stop smoke because it can cause the blood to become more viscous. Then, it is encourage having a regular exercise because it helps in blood circulation and also maintaining balance body weight.