90% of strokes and 40% of Alzheimer’s could be avoided with brain-healthy habits

This Monday is celebrated World Brain Day with the aim of raising awareness about the importance of promoting neurological health. So this year we wanted to focus on the relevance prevention of neurological diseases.

Currently, more than 43% of the world’s population suffers from some type of neurological disease, but in addition, the disability they cause has increased by more than 18% over the past 20 years, making neurological diseases already the leading cause of disability in the world. More than 3.4 billion people worldwide suffer from some form of disability due to neurological diseases, and more than 11 million people die each year from one of these pathologies.

In Spain, more than 23 million people suffer from some form of neurological disease, a prevalence that is 18% higher than the world average and 1.7% higher than the Western European average, mainly due to the ageing of our population. Moreover, they are also the leading cause of disability in Spain, as individuals responsible for 44% of disability due to chronic diseases and last year, according to the latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), they were responsible for 14% of deaths from diseases such as dementia (more than 35,000 deaths, mainly due to Alzheimer’s disease) or stroke (with almost 26,000 deaths), topping the table of the main causes of death in Spain in 2023.

“The vast majority of neurological diseases are chronic, meaning they cannot be treated, and although great progress has been made in recent years in improving the treatment of many of them, they continue to cause high disability and mortality“Diseases such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, encephalitis and meningitis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are responsible for a large percentage of deaths among all people and, in addition, along with other neurological diseases such as migraine, they are also part of the global burden of disability,” says Dr. Jesús Porta-Etessam, President of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN).

“But addressing the risk factors for many of these diseases can radically change the impact of neurological diseases. There are numerous studies that suggest that nearly 90% of stroke cases, nearly 40% of dementia cases, or nearly 30% of epilepsy cases could be avoided by following brain-healthy habits,” he notes.

The latest study published in this regard (Global, regional and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021), published in March this year, found that more than 84% of stroke cases could potentially be prevented by reducing exposure 18 risk factors have already been identified – since hypertension (57.3%) is the largest risk factor for stroke, – that control of lead exposure could reduce the burden of mental retardation by 63%, or that control of diabetes could reduce the burden of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias by almost 15%.

Smoking is also associated with an increased risk of neurological diseases. such as multiple sclerosis, dementia or stroke, as well as alcohol abuse, represent a risk of developing epilepsy that is almost four times higher in men (11%) than in women (3%). In addition, factors such as sleep, stress and social isolation They are increasingly recognized as major contributing factors to the development of neurological pathologies, as well as the type of diet and exercise we do.