ABSTRACT
Stroke is the second most common cause of death worldwide and is responsible for about 5.1 million or 9.5% of all deaths1. In Asian countries such as Japan and China stroke is the most common cause of mortality, whereas in most developed countries it is the third leading cause of death. Although stroke takes a substantial personal and financial toll, it is well suited for prevention as it has a high prevalence of disease, burden of illness and economic cost, and there are effective prevention measures2-7. However, there are gaps between actual physician prevention practices and implementation of stroke clinical preventative services8,9. These gaps must be bridged if we are to reduce the risk of stroke and attain national goals for stroke prevention. In this chapter we review approaches to stroke prevention in the community.
