Worldwide, 16% of the population will have a stroke at some time in their lives; one person has a stroke every two seconds, and one person dies of stroke every four seconds. In Europe, in spite of the preventive measures implemented by national health systems, the number of stroke victims is set to increase from 1.1 million cases a year in 2000 to over 1.5 million in 2025.

At the same time, between 10% and 13% of cases are secondary strokes, which also have much worse consequences: there is a greater risk of death or more serious disability as a result of a second stroke than for a first stroke.

The risk factors are well known, 90% of stroke or secondary stroke cases could be averted by encouraging people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Among the potential solutions to this problem, self-management tools based on digital technology are especially interesting.

Working together under H2020, the partners involved in the STARR project hope to promote the self-management of stroke risk factors. Based on predictive computer models of stroke risk, they want to develop an affordable system that will be easy to install and to use. This system will be used to keep stroke survivors informed of how their daily activities relate to the risk of having a second stroke: medication intake, physical and cognitive exercises, diet, and social contacts will be proposed using a smartphone app to reduce their risk of secondary stroke. The aim is to improve prevention and reduce the incidence of secondary stroke, as well as to better involve patients in medical decision-taking.