“Our results dispute the notion that TBI is a one-time event with a stagnant outcome after a short period of recovery,” said study author Benjamin L. Brett, PhD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. “Rather, people with TBI continue to show improvement and decline across a range of areas including their ability to function and their thinking skills.”

The study involved people at 18 level 1 trauma center hospitals with an average age of 41. A total of 917 people had mild TBI and 193 people had moderate to severe TBI. They were matched to 154 people with orthopedic injuries but no head injuries. Participants were followed for up to seven years.

The participants took three tests on thinking, memory, mental health and ability to function with daily activities annually from two to seven years post-injury. They also completed an interview on their abilities and symptoms, including headache, fatigue, and sleep disturbances.

When researchers looked at all test scores combined, 21% of people with mild TBI experienced decline, compared to 26% of people with moderate to severe TBI and 15% of people with orthopedic injuries with no head injury, according to Neurology.

Among the three tests, researchers saw the most decline over the years in the ability to function with daily activities. On average, over the course of 2 to 7 years post-injury, a total of 29% of those with mild TBI declined in their abilities and 23% of those with moderate to severe TBI.

Yet some people showed improvement in the same area, with 22% of those with mild TBI improving over time and 36% of those with moderate to severe TBI.

“These findings point out the need to recognize TBI as a chronic condition in order to establish adequate care that supports the evolving needs of people with this condition,” Brett said. “This type of care should place a greater emphasis on helping people who have shown improvement continue to improve and implementing greater levels of support for those who have shown decline.”

A limitation of the study was that all participants were seen at a level 1 trauma center hospital within 24 hours of their injury, so the findings may not apply to other groups of people.

The study found female participants who exercised the most had a 25% lower rate of Parkinson’s disease when compared to those who exercised the least. The study does not prove that exercise lowers the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. It only shows an association.

“Exercise is a low-cost way to improve health overall, so our study sought to determine if it may be linked to a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating disease that has no cure,” said study author Alexis Elbaz, MD, PhD, of the Inserm Research Center in Paris, France. “Our results provide evidence for planning interventions to prevent Parkinson’s disease.”

The study included 95,354 female participants, mostly teachers, with an average age of 49 who did not have Parkinson’s disease at the start of the study.

Researchers followed participants for three decades, during which 1,074 participants developed Parkinson’s disease.

Over the course of the study, participants completed up to six questionnaires about the types and amounts of physical activity they were getting. They were asked how far they walked and how many flights of stairs they climbed daily, how many hours they spent on household activities as well as how much time they spent doing moderate recreational activities such as gardening and more vigorous activities such as sports.

Researchers assigned each activity a score based on the metabolic equivalent of a task (METs), a way to quantify energy expenditure. For each activity, METs were multiplied by their frequency and duration to obtain a physical activity score of METs-hours per week. For example, a more intense form of exercise like cycling was six METs, while less intense forms of exercise such as walking and cleaning were three METs. The average physical activity level for participants was 45 METs-hours per week at the start of the study.

Participants were divided, according to their exercise numbers, into four groups of just over 24,000 people each. At the start of the study, those in the highest group had an average physical activity score of 71 METs-hours per week. Those in the lowest group had an average score of 27 METs-hours per week.

Among the participants in the highest exercise group, there were 246 cases of Parkinson’s disease or 0.55 cases per 1,000 person-years compared to 286 cases or 0.73 per 1,000 person-years among participants in the lowest exercise group. Person-years represent both the number of people in the study and the amount of time each person spends in the study.

After adjusting for factors such as place of residence, age of first period and menopausal status, and smoking, researchers found those in the highest exercise group had a 25% lower rate of developing Parkinson’s disease than those in the lowest exercise group when physical activity was assessed up to 10 years before diagnosis; the association remained when physical activity was assessed up to 15 or 20 years before diagnosis. Results were similar after adjusting for diet or medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers also found that ten years before diagnosis, physical activity declined at a faster rate in those with Parkinson’s disease than in those without, likely due to early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

“With our large study, not only did we find that female participants who exercise the most have a lower rate of developing Parkinson’s disease, we also showed that early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease were unlikely to explain these findings, and instead that exercise is beneficial and may help delay or prevent this disease,” said Elbaz. “Our results support the creation of exercise programs to help lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease.”

A limitation of the study was that participants were mostly health-conscious educators who volunteered to participate in a long-term study, so results may be different for the general population. Learn more about Parkinson’s disease at BrainandLife.org, home of the American Academy of Neurology’s free patient and caregiver magazine,

The American Heart Association has published a new scientific statement in the journal Stroke. This statement provides expert analysis of current research on the topic of cognitive impairment after stroke. The statement advises healthcare professionals to screen stroke survivors for cognitive impairment and provide comprehensive interdisciplinary care to support those affected. This guidance may be used to inform future guidelines on the topic.

Dr. Nada El Husseini, who led the writing committee for the scientific statement, said that cognitive impairment is a condition that stroke survivors often face but is not reported or diagnosed enough. She emphasized the importance of systematically evaluating stroke survivors for cognitive impairment to begin treatment as soon as possible when symptoms appear.

The American Heart Association’s 2023 Statistical Update states that around 9.4 million adults in America have had a stroke, which makes up about 3.6% of the adult population. Cognitive impairment may occur shortly after a stroke or even years later.

Nada El Husseini, M.D., M.H.Sc., FAHA, stated that cognitive impairment after stroke can vary from minor impairment to dementia and can impact many aspects of life such as memory, language, planning, attention, and a person’s ability to work, drive, or live independently.

The scientific statement talks about problems with thinking and memory after a stroke. There are two main types of strokes: one is caused by a blockage in a blood vessel going to the brain and the other happens when a blood vessel in the brain bursts. The first type of stroke is more common, while the second type is less common.

According to the statement:

• Many stroke survivors experience cognitive impairment within the first year after their stroke, with up to 60% of survivors affected. This impairment is most likely to occur within the first two weeks after a stroke.
• After a stroke, almost 40% of people experience cognitive impairment during the first year that doesn’t meet the criteria for dementia, but it still affects their quality of life.
• It’s possible for up to 20% of stroke survivors who experience mild cognitive impairment to fully recover their cognitive function. The best chance for recovery is within the first 6 months after a stroke.
• After a stroke, cognitive impairment is often linked to other conditions, such as physical disabilities, sleep disorders, changes in behavior and personality, depression, and other neuropsychological changes. These factors can all negatively impact a person’s quality of life.

Diagnosing and managing cognitive impairment after stroke

The scientific statement mentions that there is no universally accepted method for testing cognitive function after a stroke. However, there are some brief screening tests that can be used to identify cognitive impairment after a stroke. Two commonly used tests are the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which can both be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Detecting cognitive changes over time is important to help stroke survivors manage their condition better. Early detection of cognitive impairment is crucial for planning immediate care. If someone is having difficulty with activities related to memory, following instructions, or providing medical history, it might be an indication of cognitive impairment. Additional cognitive screening is necessary for those people. Neuropsychological screenings are recommended to evaluate brain function and to identify the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of individuals. It helps healthcare professionals provide better care to patients.

According to the scientific statement, healthcare professionals should provide guidance to stroke survivors and their caregivers regarding topics such as home safety, returning to work, and driving after a stroke. They should also connect stroke survivors and caregivers to community resources to provide social support.

To provide the best care for stroke survivors with cognitive impairment, different healthcare professionals such as physicians, occupational therapists, speech language therapists, neuropsychologists and nurses need to work together. They need to monitor the patient and offer care as needed. Cognitive rehabilitation and physical activity are also suggested to improve cognition after a stroke.

To prevent cognitive impairment from getting worse after a stroke, it’s important to prevent another stroke from occurring. This can be done by treating risk factors for stroke such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and atrial fibrillation. Keeping blood pressure under control can lower the risk of having another stroke and also reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment.

Future research needs

The scientific statement acknowledges that there are still unknowns about how cognitive impairment develops after a stroke, and how non-brain factors like infection, frailty, and social factors play a role. More research is needed to better understand cognitive screening after a stroke and to develop screening tools that take into account factors like age, culture, and language.

Dr. El Husseini highlights the urgent need for developing effective and culturally appropriate treatments for post-stroke cognitive impairment. Large clinical trials are necessary to assess the effectiveness of different techniques, medications, and lifestyle changes in improving cognitive function for diverse groups of patients.

This scientific statement was created by a group of volunteers representing different branches of the American Heart Association. The purpose of the statement is to increase awareness and knowledge about stroke and cognitive impairment. The statement provides information on what is currently known about the topic and what areas need further research. It is important to note that while the statement can inform healthcare decisions, it does not make specific treatment recommendations. The American Heart Association’s guidelines are used to provide official clinical practice recommendations.

Co-authors are Vice-Chair Irene L. Katzan, M.D., M.S., FAHA; Natalia S. Rost, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA; Margaret Lehman Blake, Ph.D., C.C.C.-S.L.P.; Eeeseung Byun, R.N., Ph.D.; Sarah T. Pendlebury, F.R.C.P., D.Phil.; Hugo J. Aparicio, M.D., M.P.H.; María J. Marquine, Ph.D.; Rebecca F. Gottesman, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA; and Eric E. Smith, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA. Authors’ disclosures are listed in the manuscript.

The Association receives funding primarily from individuals. Foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers, and the Association’s overall financial information are available here.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public’s health and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

 “Our study found that Mexican American people who spoke only Spanish had worse neurologic outcomes three months after having a stroke than Mexican American people who spoke only English or were bilingual,” said study author Lewis B. Morgenstern, MD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “More research is needed into what factors and barriers may influence these worse outcomes.”

The study involved 1,096 Mexican American people in Corpus Christi, Texas, who had a stroke over a 10-year period. Researchers looked at results three months after the stroke in three areas: neurologic, functional and thinking and memory skills. Neurologic results cover areas such as muscle strength and coordination and problems with speech or vision. Functional results look at how well people can complete their daily activities such as showering and preparing meals.

The 170 people who spoke Spanish only were compared to the 926 people who spoke English only or were bilingual. Those who spoke Spanish only were older, had received less education and had worse neurologic scores at the time of the stroke than those in the other group.

Three months after the stroke, the Spanish-only speakers had average neurologic scores of seven, where scores of five to 14 indicate moderate effects from a stroke. The English-only and bilingual speakers had average scores of four, where scores of one to four indicate mild effects. The results remained after researchers adjusted for the differences between the two groups and other factors that could affect stroke risk, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

The study found no difference between the two groups in how well they recovered their ability to complete their daily activities or in their thinking and memory skills.

“We conducted an earlier study in this same community finding that the language people spoke was not associated with any delay in their getting to the hospital or using emergency medical services after an ischemic stroke, so we definitely need more information to determine what is driving the differences in outcomes between these two groups,” Morgenstern said.

A limitation of the study was that there was a low number of Spanish-only speakers. Also, the majority of Mexican Americans in Corpus Christi are born in the United States, so these results may not be applicable to areas with a larger population of people born outside the United States.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the TRANSCENDS (Training in Research for Academic Neurologists to Sustain Careers and Enhance the Numbers of Diverse Scholars) program funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more about stroke at BrainandLife.org, home of the American Academy of Neurology’s free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health.

Results from the study, funded in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), were published in Nature Communications.

In Alzheimer’s, tau abnormally sticks together in fibrous tangles that spread between brain cells, leading to cell death. A molecule known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) — the one found in green tea — is known to untangle tau fibers. However, EGCG is not on its own an effective Alzheimer’s treatment because it cannot easily penetrate the brain and binds to many proteins other than tau, weakening its effect.

Therefore, researchers wanted to find molecules that replicate the effects of EGCG but have better drug properties for treating Alzheimer’s. In this study, a team led by investigators at the University of California, Los Angeles isolated tau tangles from postmortem brain tissue donated by people who had Alzheimer’s. The tangles were treated with EGCG and flash frozen. Images of the EGCG and tau fiber complexes were captured with a technique called cryogenic electron microscopy.

These EGCG-tau fiber images helped reveal how EGCG attaches to and dismantles the tau fibers. According to the team’s model, EGCG binds to clefts, or openings, along each layer of the fibers, destabilizing the layers and slowly prying the fibers apart.

A NIA news release detailed how the researchers, using computer simulations, identified other molecules likely to work in the same way as EGCG but may be able to enter the brain more easily.

The researchers tested these other molecules in a cell model for tau tangle formation and additionally on tau tangles isolated from brain samples donated by Alzheimer’s patients after death. In both setups, several of the molecules untangled tau fibers. Although researchers caution that more work is needed, the experiments indicated that certain molecules also prevented the untangled tau from spreading and forming new tangles.

Overall, the findings suggest that these newly discovered molecules that can penetrate the brain and dismantle tau tangles may be a promising strategy for treating Alzheimer’s.

“The results are promising because for the first time a medicine studied as a neuroprotectant demonstrated not only a biological benefit by reducing the volume of damaged brain tissue, but also a reduction in long term disability and risk of death,” said study senior author Marc Ribó, M.D., an interventional neurologist at Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, Spain.

In this clinical trial, researchers investigated if the neuroprotective medication ApTOLL may improve outcomes among people with stroke who also received standard treatment. ApTOLL is a TOLL-like receptor 4 (TLR4) antagonist involved in immune responses, yet it also responds to tissue damage. Previous studies in animals found that ApTOLL reduced inflammation and protected brain tissue from damage. Also, a first-in-human study in healthy adults did not find safety issues with ApTOLL.

From July 2021 to April 2022, more than 150 adults diagnosed with stroke (average age 70 years) treated in 15 hospitals in France and Spain were randomly assigned to either 0.05mg/kg of ApTOLL, 0.2mg/kg of ApTOLL or a placebo.

Within six hours of symptom onset, all participants also received the standard ischemic stroke treatment to restore blood flow to the brain — mechanical blood clot removal. This treatment, also called endovascular therapy, involves insertion of a tiny tube into the blood vessel to retrieve the blood clot. Study participants also may have received the clot-busting medication known as tPA if needed to help dissolve the clot.

Among the trial’s findings:

The higher ApTOLL dose showed a neuroprotective effect while the lower dose did not show any effect compared to placebo.

Ninety days after treatment, death rates among participants who received the higher dose of ApTOLL were more than four times lower compared to those who received placebo: 4% versus 18%, respectively.

Imaging tests given 72 hours after treatment showed that the size of damaged brain tissue was reduced by 40% among the participants who received the higher dose of ApTOLL compared to the placebo group.

64% of participants who received the higher dose of ApTOLL were free of disability at 90 days, compared to 47% of those in the placebo group.

“If the results are confirmed with larger studies, it will mean that we can effectively treat patients with neuroprotectants, in addition to current standard treatments to restore blood flow,” said co-lead author Macarena Hernández, Ph.D. “Both kinds of treatments may be combined, and neuroprotectants will buy time, reducing brain damage until blood flow is restored.”

A study limitation is its small number of participants. Larger studies are in the planning stages, according to Ribó.

The fifth-leading cause of death in the United States and a major cause of long-term disability, stroke caused more than 160,000 U.S. deaths in 2020, according to the 2023 American Heart Association statistics.

The new research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Stroke, is the first U.S.-wide study to find that patients who had more severe strokes received higher amounts of rehabilitation therapy, a welcome finding. “But in the bigger picture, the findings reinforce that too many patients are missing out on a golden opportunity to maximize recovery during a critical period following a stroke,” said the study’s lead author, Steven Cramer, MD. Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability in the United States and can affect speech, memory, and mobility, among other impairments.

“In the initial weeks after a stroke, the brain is ready to undergo maximum rewiring to get people back on their feet. Rehab therapy helps maximize this recovery, with higher rehab therapy doses helping more, but what we found in this study is that most patients are getting rather small doses of rehab therapy,” said Dr. Cramer, a stroke neurologist and professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the California Rehabilitation Institute.

Among the study’s key findings:

–Many patients tracked in this study did not receive any rehabilitation therapy after their stroke. After three months, about one-third of patients had not received physical therapy, almost half had not received occupational therapy, and over 6 in 10 did not receive speech therapy.

–Those who did receive rehabilitation therapy typically had six to eight sessions by three months after their stroke – and between 0 and 1.5 sessions the rest of the year.

–Where patients were sent following hospitalization also mattered. Those who were discharged home had the lowest levels of rehabilitation therapy, regardless of the severity of their stroke.

–Hispanic patients received disproportionately lower amounts of physical therapy and occupational therapy.

Cramer said it is important for future research to examine the feasibility of providing higher therapy doses to stroke patients.

The other study authors are Brittany Young, MD, PhD, of UCLA and the California Rehabilitation Institute, and Alison Holman, PhD, FNP, of the Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing at UC-Irvine.

BACKROUNDAging is associated with cognitive decline and brain atrophy. Aging also confers a major risk for developing a neurodegenerative disease. Given the aging population, novel strategies are needed to identify neuroprotective therapeutics. The study of sex differences in brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases can reveal new candidate treatment targets tailored for women and men.

Understanding the role of sex chromosome gene expression in the brain in the context of waning sex hormones during aging is a new approach to identifying neuroprotective treatments.

FINDINGSDr. Rhonda Voskuhl, Professor, and Dr. Yuichiro Itoh, Associate Researcher, in the Department of Neurology, have created a roadmap to identify novel neuroprotective treatments tailored for women and men that leverage known sex differences in brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

Previously, research pursuing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases ignored sex differences in the brain and pooled data together from males and females, taking a “one size fits all” approach. This could dilute out robust effects that exist in one sex but not the other at the clinical research level and fail to capitalize on known disease modifiers in the discovery of new treatment targets at the basic research level.

In their study, “The X factor in neurodegeneration,” Voskuhl and Itoh write that known sex differences in the brain as well as the effect of higher expression of certain X chromosome genes in females (XX) compared to males (XY) can be assessed for their role in neurodegeneration during aging, a stage of life characterized by loss of potentially neuroprotective hormones in females (estrogen in menopause) and males (testosterone in andropause). The study offers a roadmap for disentangling the contribution of these sex-specific factors, which can yield treatments optimized and targeted for each sex.

IMPACTIn the future, this roadmap can be used by researchers to discover targets on the X chromosome gene for development of modulatory treatments that prevent neurodegeneration and promote neural repair during brain aging.

“Given the aging population and lack of treatments to prevent cognitive decline during health and to reduce the risk for developing neurodegenerative diseases, it is now imperative to apply new strategies to identify neuroprotective treatments,” said Voskuhl, who also directs the UCLA Multiple Sclerosis Program.

“Leveraging what is known about sex differences in multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease can reveal candidate treatment targets tailored for women and men affected by these conditions. Sex chromosome effects remain understudied and represent a promising frontier for discovery, particularly in the context of declining levels of sex hormones during menopause and andropause.”

JOURNALThe study is published Nov. 4 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Experimental Medicine as part of a series focused on sex differences in health and disease. See the study for the full list of funders.

Voskuhl discloses being an inventor on patents owned by UCLA that involve estriol and estrogen receptor beta ligand treatments to maintain cognitive function during aging and neurodegenerative disease. Itoh has no conflicts of interest to disclose.

The study is published in the October 5, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish such as salmon, sardines, lake trout and albacore tuna. They are also found in foods fortified with fatt  acids or supplements.

 “Improving our diet is one way to promote our brain health,” said study author Claudia L. Satizabal, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. “If people could improve their cognitive resilience and potentially ward off dementia with some simple changes to their diet, that could have a large impact on public health. Even better, our study suggests that even modest consumption of omega-3 may be enough to preserve brain function. This is in line with the current American Heart Association dietary guidelines to consume at least two servings of fish per week to improve cardiovascular health.

The cross-sectional study involved 2,183 people with an average age of 46 who did not have dementia or stroke. Their levels of omega-3 fatty acids were measured. They took tests of their thinking skills. They had scans to measure brain volumes.

The people in the low group had an average of 3.4% of their total fatty acids as omega-3 fatty acids compared to an average of 5.2% for people in the high group. An optimal level is 8% or higher. Levels between 4% and 8% are considered intermediate. Levels below 4% are considered low.

Researchers adjusted for factors that could affect results. They also applied a mathematical process to normalize the data. They observed that people who ate higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids not only had higher average scores on a test of abstract reasoning, they also had larger average volumes in the hippocampus area of their brains, which plays an important role in memory

 “These results need to be confirmed with additional research, but it’s exciting that omega-3 levels could play a role in improving cognitive resilience, even in middle-aged people,” Satizabal said.

She noted that the study was a snapshot in time, and participants were not followed over time, so the results do not prove that eating omega-3 fatty acids will preserve brain function. It only shows an association.

While the study included a small proportion of people of many races/ethnicities, Satizabal said that the majority of the sample were non-Hispanic white adults, which may limit the ability to apply the results to other groups.

The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Learn more about brain health at Brain and Life, home of the American Academy of Neurology’s free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health.

The American Academy of Neurology is the world’s largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with over 38,000 members. The AAN is dedicated to promoting the highest quality atient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

Fatty deposits (plaque) can accumulate in arteries causing them to narrow (stenosis). Narrowed arteries in the carotid artery (in the neck) can cause an ischemic stroke, which occurs when a vessel that supplies blood to the brain is obstructed by a clot. Nearly 87% of all strokes are ischemic strokes.

“Between 2% and 5% of strokes each year occur in people with no symptoms, so better and earlier detection of stroke risk is needed,” said lead study author Hsien-Li Kao, M.D., an interventional cardiologist at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan.

“This was an exciting ‘eureka’ moment for us,” Kao said in a news release from the American Heart Association. “Existing diagnostic methods – ultrasound, CT and MRI – require screening with specialized medical imaging equipment and personnel. Analysis of video recorded on a smartphone is non-invasive and easy to perform, so it may provide an opportunity to increase screening. Though more research and development are needed, the recordings and motion analysis may be able to be implemented remotely, or a downloadable app may even be feasible.”

Arteries in the neck are just beneath the skin’s surface and changes in the velocity and pattern of blood flow through them are reflected in the motion of the overlying skin, Kao explained. However, these differences are too subtle to be detected by the naked eye.

According to the AHA news release, this study, conducted between 2016 and 2019, used motion magnification and pixel analysis to detect the minute changes in pulse characteristics on the skin’s surface captured in a smartphone video recording.

A group of 202 Taiwanese adults (average age of 68 years; roughly 79% men) who received care at a single Taiwanese hospital participated in the study. Among the participants, 54% had significant carotid artery stenosis, meaning they had at least 50% blockage that was previously diagnosed by ultrasound, while 46% did not have significant stenosis. Recordings were captured with participants laying on their back, with their head tilted back in a custom-made box that minimized outside movement. An Apple iPhone 6, 64GB, was mounted to the box to capture a 30-second video recording of the person’s neck. The older generation phone was used as researchers believed it would be more common to the average user, Kao said.

Researchers found that the video motion analysis algorithm had an 87% accuracy rate of detecting stenosis in the group known to have carotid artery stenosis. All study participants also had standard Doppler ultrasound testing to confirm narrowing in their arteries and to gauge and validate the estimates from the video motion analysis.

“More research is needed to determine whether video recorded on smartphones is a promising approach to help expedite and increase stroke screening,” Kao said. “Carotid artery stenosis is silent until a stroke happens. With this method, clinicians may be able to record a video of the patient’s neck with a smartphone, upload the videos for analysis and receive a report within five minutes. The early detection of carotid artery stenosis may improve patient outcomes.”