Racial Differences in Stroke Recurrence and Fatality

RESEARCH UPDATE

A retrospective cohort study in the journal Neurology¹used a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for ischemic stroke between 1999 and 2013. Over 128,000 patients having an ischemic stroke were included in the analysis.

The results: The risk of stroke recurrence was higher for blacks compared with whites; however 30-day mortality was lower for blacks.

How about that racial disparity in clinical outcomes for a disease process that results in significant morbidity and mortality in the United States? We can only speculate. And why do we continue to spend millions of dollars on bipartisan political campaigns that end in empty promises and ignore answering the important questions in health care? As my Dad would say in the face of a recurrent unsolved problem, “Who is in charge here?”

Reference

1. Albright KC, Huang L, Blackburn J, et al. Racial differences in recurrent ischemic stroke risk and recurrent stroke case fatality. Neurology. 2018;91:e1741-e1750.