Higher rates reported for younger adults, blacks
THURSDAY, May 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) — While Americans suffered fewer acute ischemic strokes overall from 2000 to 2010, stroke rates climbed substantially among younger adults and blacks, according to study findings published online May 11 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Amytis Towfighi, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, and colleagues analyzed data from a national database that collects information on about eight million hospital admissions each year.
Hospitalizations for acute ischemic strokes dropped 18.4 percent overall during the decade, with greater decreases among the elderly. Although stroke hospitalizations dropped 50 percent for people 65 and older, they increased nearly 49 percent among 25- to 64-year-olds. The researchers found that stroke hospitalization for whites declined 12.4 percent and for Hispanics 21.7 percent. But it rose 13.7 percent among blacks. Overall, women saw a steeper decline in stroke than men — 22.1 versus 17.8 percent.
“Although overall stroke hospitalizations declined in the United States, the reduction was more pronounced among older individuals, women, Hispanics, and whites,” the authors conclude. “Renewed efforts at targeting risk factor control among vulnerable individuals may be warranted.”
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