Stroke and dementia, leading causes of neurological disability and death, potential for prevention

INTRODUCTION: Stroke and dementia share a number of modifiable risk factors and are the leading cause of neurological disability and death worldwide. METHODS: We report the 2019 estimations for global disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and death numbers and rates related to stroke and dementia, as well as their risk attributed DALYs and deaths and their changes between 2010 and 2019. RESULTS: Stroke accounted for 69.8%, dementia for 17.3%, and combined contributed to 87.2% (8.2 million) of neurological deaths and 61.7% (168.5 million) of neurological DALYs in 2019. For stroke, 86.4% of DALYs and for dementias 32.8% of DALYs are attributable to risk factors. Globally, hypertension (54.8%) and unhealthy diet (30.0%) pose the greatest risk for stroke DALYs, and smoking (15.1%) and obesity (12.5%) for dementia DALYs. DISCUSSION: Worldwide, stroke and dementia cases are increasing in number, but their age-standardized rates are falling. Finding out why offers the possibility of their joint delay, mitigation, or prevention.