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January 6, 2025

As the AAN and its members work to promote brain health for all, a summarizes emerging evidence on strategies to support and maintain brain health across a person’s lifespan and across neurological subspecialties.

“With our training and insights on scientific discoveries, neurologists are the standard-bearers when it comes to brain health,” said author Linda M. Selwa, MD, FAAN. “A crucial part of brain health is preventive care, and this Emerging Issues article highlights the emerging preventive evidence and strategies that can optimize development, enhance function, and limit the impact of the diseases we treat.”

Read the article: 

Read the press release: Twelve Questions to Ask Your Doctor for Better Brain Health in the New Year

Emerging Issues in Neurology articles are published by the AAN with the goal of providing timely, informal guidance that is derived from expert consensus opinion to neurologists about new or emerging issues. These issues have immediate implications for patient care, but their formal evidence bases are still evolving.

Brain health—defined by the AAN as the “continuous state of attaining and maintaining the optimal neurologic function that best supports one’s physical, mental, and social well-being through every stage of life”—is an increasingly high-profile issue. Promoting brain health for all is central to the AAN’s mission and at the core of its groundbreaking Brain Health Initiative.

The new Emerging Issues in Neurology article does its part for brain health by presenting factors that may protect brain function and framing a practical approach to screening assessments and preventive interventions that neurology clinicians can use for their patients. These measures are important both for prevention and for people with active brain disease, in whom they may reduce recurrence or slow progression of disease and enhance quality of life and overall function.

“We particularly hoped to connect brain health scientific findings to the daily clinical work of neurologists,” Selwa said. “We illustrated how vital some of these preventive considerations are for every life stage.  We also tried to give useful, concrete examples about what knowledge exists for many different subspecialties.”

One practical example provided in the article is a list of 12 factors influencing brain health across the lifespan—sleep, mental health, diet, exercise, trauma avoidance, blood pressure, and more—as well as corresponding screening questions.

“Whether we're evaluating patients for the management of seizures, traumatic brain injury, stroke risk reduction or treatment, or in the pediatric setting, there are opportunities in every single visit to screen for risk factors for brain health and to promote this unified message to patients,” said author Gregory S. Day, MD, MSc, FAAN. “It helps us show that we're not just here to address the problem that's on your mind. We're here to think about you as an individual and to recognize that your goals are our goals.”

Special attention is given to vulnerable populations that experience a disproportionate burden of neurological disease and may benefit most from approaches to optimize brain health. The article also explores gaps in the evidence concerning brain health and outlines possible next steps toward the AAN’s ambitious mission of ensuring brain health for all.

“There’s a mountain of data on brain health, and this is just the start,” Day said. “As neurologists, we can bring that to our patients. We can say, ‘We want to see you live a healthy life where neurology and neurological care can enhance that today, but also prepare you and set the stage for a healthier tomorrow.’”