[Prevention of stroke and vascular dementia]

Prevention of stroke and dementia seems to be a great and rising challenge nowadays. Increasing problem of cardiovascular diseases considers, apart from individuals' and state expenses, also important social effort. The aspect of prevention seems to be the most optimistic accent in that area. Based on the results of multiple randomized trials we can influence in both pharmacological and non-pharmacological way the major risk factors of stroke. Effective antihypertensive treatment, cholesterol lowering therapy, smoking cessation and antithrombotic treatment in subjects with atrial fibrillation result in noticeable reduction of stroke events in both primary and secondary prevention. The number of researches which aim the dementia prevention is still sparse, which makes the results of the recently presented PROGRESS trial even more interesting and valuable. It showed that it was possible to prevent dementia and cognitive impairment with therapy based on the long acting ACE inhibitor. An increasing number of data supporting the beneficial role of statins in the stroke and dementia prevention it is noteworthy. The multifactorial intervention both in prevention of stroke and dementia seems to be the most effective.