(Press-News.org) Disparities between racial/ethnic minorities and whites cross all aspects of stroke care, according to an American Heart Association/American Stroke Association scientific statement.
The statement, published online in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, is a comprehensive analysis of the role of race and ethnicity in stroke care and its impact on the numbers of people who have a stroke, live with its effects or die among minority groups compared to whites. It also addresses how access to care, response to treatment and participation in clinical research affects these groups.
"We see disparities in every aspect of stroke care, from lack of awareness of stroke risk factors and symptoms to delayed arrival to the emergency room and increased waiting time," said Salvador Cruz-Flores, M.D., M.P.H., lead author of the statement and professor of neurology and director of the Souers Stroke Institute at St. Louis University in Missouri. "These disparities continue throughout the spectrum of the delivery of care from acute treatment to rehabilitation."
Experts in different areas of stroke care analyzed the issue of racial and ethnic disparities in current scientific literature. Hispanic-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Native-Americans constitute 28 percent of the U.S. population.
Because that is expected to almost double by the year 2050, "there is an increasing need to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care," the authors said.
The review also included Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians/other Pacific Islanders.
The burden of risk factors is different among racial and ethnic groups according to the statement. For example, African-Americans have a high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and obesity as well as other risk factors for stroke, while Hispanic-Americans have a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome and diabetes compared to whites and African-Americans. The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that include three or more of the following: elevated waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, reduced good cholesterol, elevated blood pressure and elevated fasting glucose.
Other factors that impact these disparities range from economic and social issues to cultural and language barriers. In addition, attitudes, beliefs and compliance among populations differ and the perceived or true presence of racial bias within the healthcare system can negatively impact a patient's compliance with a healthcare provider's advice, medications or treatment, according to the statement.
"It is important for members of ethnic and racial minority groups to understand they are particularly predisposed to have risk factors for heart disease and stroke," Cruz-Flores said. "They need to understand these diseases are preventable and treatable."
Educating the public and healthcare community can improve stroke care for minorities, he said.
Some of the statement recommendations include:
Development of public health policies to close the gap between minorities and whites in all aspects of stroke prevention, incidence and care;
More education and research to reduce disparities in stroke care;
Increased access to insurance coverage in minority populations; and
More research on American Indians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
"It is striking that we are in the 2lst century, with many advances in stroke care, yet we are still struggling to fix the differences that are present not only in the distribution of the disease but also in the level of care we provide to the different racial and ethnic groups," Cruz-Flores said.
###
Co-writers are Alejandro A. Rabinstein, M.D.; Jose Biller, M.D.; Mitchell S.V. Elkind, M.D.; Patrick Griffin, M.D.; Philip B. Gorelick, M.D.; George Howard, DrPH; Enrique C. Leira, M.D.; Lewis B. Morgenstern, M.D., and representatives of the American Heart Association Stroke Council, Council on Cardiovascular Nursing, Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and Interdisciplinary Council on Quality of Care Outcomes in Research.
END
Omega-3 fatty acids, combined with two blood-thinning drugs, significantly changed the blood-clotting process and may reduce the risk of heart attacks in patients with stents in their heart arteries, according to research reported in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Foods rich in omega-3, such as salmon and other oily fish, have been previously shown in other studies to reduce the risk of heart problems in people with coronary artery disease. In this study, the participants were given the pill form of omega-3 ...
Lucas Fox International Properties today announce their accreditation as a registered estate agent in Cataluna. The register d'agents immobiliaris accreditation is given by The Generalitat of Catalonia. The accreditation allows the company to provide estate agency services in Catalonia.
Alexander Vaughan, Director of Lucas Fox International Barcelona comments, "This accreditation verifies our high levels of service and commitment to our clients. Lucas Fox has always strived to worth ethically and professionally and this is formalised by our obtaining the Generalitat's ...
Direct evidence of the existence of gravitational waves is something that has long eluded researchers, however new research has suggested that adding just one of the proposed detectors in Japan, Australia and India will drastically increase the expected rate of detection.
In a study published today, Friday, 27 May, in IOP Publishing's journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, Professor Bernard Schutz, of the Albert Einstein Institute, Germany, demonstrated that an additional detector would more than double the detection rate of gravitational waves and could double the ...
Snug inside a human red blood cell, the malaria parasite hides from the immune system and fuels its growth by digesting hemoglobin, the cell's main protein. The parasite, however, must obtain additional nutrients from the bloodstream via tiny pores in the cell membrane. Now, investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found the genes that malaria parasites use to create these feeding pores.
The research was led by Sanjay A. Desai, M.D., Ph.D., of NIAID's Laboratory of Malaria and ...
Justine Drury and Kate Vines, who will swim the Channel as a female relay this summer, have helped to launch the BBC 'The Big Splash' campaign, "inspiring the UK to swim".
Channeling Positivity is the name of the ladies' swimming challenge. The two will attempt to swim the Channel this July, and as such, hope to become the first female relay duo from Nottingham to do so. They are raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust appeal in the East Midlands and their campaign is sponsored by South Nottingham College.
The BBC has been working closely with the national ...
Coastal communities hard hit by ocean acidification hotspots have more options than they may realize, says an interdisciplinary team of science and legal experts. In a paper published in the journal Science, experts from Stanford University's Center for Ocean Solutions and colleagues make the case that communities don't need to wait for a global solution to ocean acidification to fix a local problem that is compromising their marine environment. Many localized acidification hotspots can be traced to local contributors of acidity that can be addressed using existing laws, ...
Many organisations are moving away from disparate departmental systems in favour of business wide software suites and CRM solutions that provide each user with a 360 degree view of organisational data. With up to date information available when and where it is needed, businesses can respond more effectively to the needs of customers.
The Sage 200 Suite is modular suite of business software designed to provide a "joined up" approach to business. It is a fully integrated business solution that allows organisations to coordinate each business function from accounts ...
Parts of the moon's interior contains as much water as the upper mantle of the Earth - 100 times more of the precious liquid than measured before – research from Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Institution for Science, and Brown University shows.
The scientists discovered water along with volatile elements in lunar magma trapped inside of crystals that are trapped inside of tiny volcanic glass beads returned to Earth by Apollo 17.
The discovery, published in the May 26 Science Express, challenges assumptions of how the moon formed and the origin of frozen ...
Specialised teaching for individuals with dyscalculia, the mathematical equivalent of dyslexia, should be made widely available in mainstream education, according to a review of current research published today in the journal Science.
Although just as common as dyslexia, with an estimated prevalence of up to 7% of the population, dyscalculia has been neglected as a disorder of cognitive development. However, a world-wide effort by scientists and educators has established the essential neural network that supports arithmetic, and revealed abnormalities in this network ...
Our brain's understanding of spatial awareness is not triggered by sight alone, scientists have found, in a development that could help design technology for the visually impaired.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found that our brain can use other senses – such as touch – to help us understand spatial awareness.
Scientists took MRI brain scans of both sighted volunteers and others who had been blind since birth while they examined three-dimensional spaces.
Both groups were first asked to feel three dimensional Lego models representing a geometric layout ...
