Stroke News and Research

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A stroke is a medical emergency. Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain stops. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. There are two kinds of stroke. The more common kind, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. "Mini-strokes" or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), occur when the blood supply to the brain is briefly interrupted.

Wearable sensors coupled with AI can non-invasively monitor blood pressure

Wearable sensors coupled with AI can generate blood pressure readings nearly as well as the invasive and risky arterial lines relied on in intensive care units and operating rooms, new work by Johns Hopkins University researchers demonstrates.

17 Aug 2026

Rutgers study supports waist measurements for routine obesity screening

Measuring waist size may be one of the simplest and most effective ways to detect obesity-related health risks, according to a study by Rutgers Health researchers.

14 Aug 2026

Global epilepsy burden shifts expose widening healthcare access gaps

Epilepsy remains a major public health challenge, but its burden is changing in ways that reveal health inequalities.

14 Aug 2026

Würzburg researchers discover alternative approach to preventing thrombosis

Glycoprotein VI, or GPVI for short, is a surface receptor found exclusively on platelets and their precursor cells, megakaryocytes in the bone marrow.

14 Aug 2026

AI-based "tissue clocks" measure the biological age of human organs

AI-based "tissue clocks" can estimate the biological age of human organs from histological images, researchers at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Network Medicine (LBI-NetMed) at the University of Vienna showed.

14 Aug 2026

A 30-year study found a surprising link between alcohol, survival and heart attack risk

In a 30-year study of 973 middle-aged Swedish male automotive workers, alcohol consumption was associated with lower all-cause mortality and longer estimated time to death, while beer consumption was linked to a higher likelihood of myocardial infarction. No significant association was found between alcohol consumption and stroke, and the authors cautioned that socioeconomic differences, self-reported intake, and other unmeasured factors may have influenced the findings.

14 Aug 2026

Smokers lack awareness of smoking-related cardiovascular risks

An international study has found that despite two decades of global tobacco control efforts, the message still is not getting through to enough smokers that smoking and second-hand smoke cause heart attack and stroke.

13 Aug 2026

Automated MRI system improves improves evaluation of experimental stroke therapies

Researchers from the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have developed an automated system that uses MRI to measure brain tissue changes in animal models for large, multicenter studies of experimental stroke treatments.

12 Aug 2026

Swimming sends wrist-worn heart rate monitors off track

Researchers created an open-access dataset comparing two wrist-worn heart rate monitors with a chest-strap reference during dry-land exercise and swimming. Both smartwatches performed substantially worse underwater, highlighting the challenges water poses to optical heart rate monitoring and providing a resource for future research on aquatic wearables.

12 Aug 2026

Later-life estrogen therapy associated with lower risk of developing dementia

Use of hormone therapy later in life was associated with lower risk of developing dementia, according to a study published August 12, 2026, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

12 Aug 2026

Intensive blood pressure control lowers stroke recurrence risk in ICH survivors

Intensive, long-term blood pressure-lowering treatment reduced the risk of recurrent stroke by 38%, without increasing serious adverse events, in people who have survived an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

12 Aug 2026

Modern blood thinners slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients

People with both atrial fibrillation and Alzheimer's disease who are treated with modern NOAC blood-thinning medicines may experience a slower rate of cognitive decline.

12 Aug 2026

Survey: Most U.S. adults believe brain health habits should begin before age 40

A new national survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds most U.S. adults believe brain health habits should begin before age 40.

12 Aug 2026

Stretchable catheter could help identify high-risk arterial plaque

We all know about plaque from dreaded trips to the dentist. But plaque can also build up inside the arteries, taking the form of fatty deposits that can potentially restrict blood flow.

11 Aug 2026

Waist size predicts heart disease risk better than body mass index

The size of a person's midsection is a better indicator of cardiovascular disease risk when compared to their body mass index (BMI) alone, according to a study published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.

11 Aug 2026

FDA clears first self-balancing personal exoskeleton for wheelchair users

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared Eve™, the first self-balancing personal exoskeleton for eligible wheelchair users living with spinal cord injury.

11 Aug 2026

One cognitive ability stood out in a study of Western diets and Alzheimer’s risk genes

A Western dietary pattern was associated with faster attention decline among older adults carrying the APOE ε4 allele, while no significant cognitive associations emerged for a Prudent dietary pattern. However, the Western diet association lost statistical significance after excluding participants with possible baseline cognitive impairment, making the finding exploratory.

11 Aug 2026

Semaglutide slows blood protein signature linked to future dementia risk

A post hoc analysis of 2,970 older SELECT participants found that semaglutide slowed worsening of a 25-protein blood signature that predicts future dementia risk. Over 104 weeks, semaglutide produced larger effects on modeled 5-year than 20-year dementia risk, but whether these biomarker changes translate into less cognitive decline or dementia remains unknown.

10 Aug 2026

New report shows rising job search among disabled individuals

More people with disabilities were actively looking for work in July compared to June, while the number of people without disabilities seeking employment declined over the same period.

10 Aug 2026

Tirzepatide lowers heart attack and cardiovascular event risk in adults with type 2 diabetes

In a US cohort of 52,971 adults with type 2 diabetes and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, tirzepatide initiation was associated with a lower one-year risk of major adverse cardiovascular events than sitagliptin. The benefit was driven mainly by lower myocardial infarction and all-cause mortality hazards, although the authors cautioned that mortality findings may be influenced by residual confounding.

10 Aug 2026