research shows link between race and chances of a severe stroke

researchers from northern arizona university found that members of these groups have an increased risk of stroke than white americans. the findings were published this week in the journal of the american medical association.

“quantifying the association between being a racial or ethnic minority and stroke severity or being of low ses and stroke severity is important information for restructuring preventive care, and for adequately supporting and reimbursing hospitals that disproportionately care for people of racial/ethnic minority status and the poor,” pamela bosch, author of the study said in a statement . “as a result of this work, we expect to improve preventive care and early hospital admission and post-acute rehabilitation care after stroke to minimize the long-term disability.”

medicade and medicare

by conducting a cross-sectional, retrospective study using medicare data from between oct. 1, 2016, and dec 31, 2017, the researchers were able to identify patients by their socioeconomic status, race, and if they were enrolled in medicade — a federal program that provides coverage to people age 65 and over — or medicaid, a state and federal program that provides coverage for those who are low-income, according to medicare interactive.

the study consisted of 45,459 adults aged 66 or higher  who identified as black, hispanic, or other. 

the researchers measured stroke severity using the national institutes of health stroke scale, which includes a scoring system alongside medicare claims data to grade the severity of the stroke. those who were enrolled in medicare and medicade were more likely to have a severe stroke, when compared to white people not enrolled in medicare. 

accounting for race and socioeconomic status in stroke

in canada, as of 2018, about 6.2 million people identified as a visible minority, according to statistics canada . additionally, approximately 14,000 canadians die every year from a stroke, one every 10 minutes, according to the ontario stroke network. roughly 300,000 people in canada are living with the effects of stroke.