Lifestyle approaches to hypertension for prevention of stroke and vascular cognitive impairment: a realist review protocol

Introduction: Stroke and vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) are major global public health pandemics. The increased incidence of stroke and VCI is in part due to modifiable risk factors (MRFs), with hypertension (HTN) being the strongest single MRF. Even though the underlying causes of HTN are multifactorial, lifestyle choices (eg, poor diet, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption) are chief contributors. Lifestyle medicine (LSM) is a medical and evidence-based discipline that is a promising approach for preventing stroke and cognitive impairment, including VCI. The empirical evidence from systematic reviews, meta-analyses and large population-based studies has reported on the effectiveness of LSM interventions. However, the evaluation of such complex, social and behavioural interventions warrants more information to allow its successful implementation into innovative clinical care models. More importantly, we need to understand how such interventions work, who it works for and under what circumstances to successfully manage HTN and other MRFs (eg, hyperlipidaemia, smoking, alcohol use and diet).

Methods and analysis: This realist review will follow the Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Synthesis: Evolving Standards. The review will comprise four stages: (1) clarify the scope, (2) search for the evidence, (3) critically appraise primary studies and extract data focusing on the context, mechanism and outcome configuration and (4) synthesise evidence and draw conclusions.

Ethics and dissemination: Research ethics board approval is not required for this review. The primary output of this review will be an evidence-based programme theory for LSM interventions for the management of HTN and other MRFs to reduce the risk of stroke and VCI. Findings from this review will be disseminated at three levels: micro (eg, patients, caregivers, clinicians, non-research partners), meso (eg, public, national not-for-profit organisations, professional associations and centres) and macro (eg, policymakers and government partners).

Prospero registration number: CRD42024511566.