New stroke prevention guidelines released by American Stroke Association

Strokes are the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States, and the leading cause of disability — but up to 80% of them are preventable.

That’s according to the American Stroke Association (ASA), which on Monday published its updated guidelines for stroke prevention in the journal Stroke.

This was the first update since its 2014 set of guidelines.

"The key to preventing stroke is to understand what the risk factors are and have access to care to address the ones that may require medications, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes," study author Cheryl Bushnell, professor of neurology and stroke division chief in the Department of Neurology at Wake Forest University Health Sciences in Winston-Salem, told Fox News Digital.