Overview
- The Mass General Brigham analysis, published December 18 in Neurology, examined stroke-free Black and white adults aged 45 and older from the REGARDS study.
- A five-point higher Brain Care Score correlated with a 53% lower stroke risk in Black participants and a 25% lower risk in white participants after demographic and socioeconomic adjustments.
- The 0–21 score consolidates physical, lifestyle, and social-emotional factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar, nutrition, alcohol use, sleep, exercise, stress, and social relationships.
- Investigators frame the score as a practical primary care tool to identify modifiable behaviors and target prevention, with potential to help address racial stroke disparities.
- Authors caution the findings are observational and do not prove causality, and they call for intervention and implementation studies; the work was supported by NIH and the American Heart Association.