Skip to main content

Racial Disparities Seen in Prehospital Stroke Care

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Sep 18, 2024.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 18, 2024 -- Black race is associated with prolonged onset to time of arrival intervals with stroke and significantly decreased odds of emergency medical services (EMS) prehospital notification, according to a study published online Sept. 5 in Circulation.

Regina Royan, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues examined how patient-level factors affect these aspects of prehospital stroke care. The analysis included 606,369 patients with ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage and symptom onset <24 hours participating in the Get With the Guidelines-Stroke registry (July 2015 to December 2019).

The researchers found that median symptom onset to arrival time was 176 minutes and Black race was significantly associated with prolonged symptom onset to emergency department arrival time (+28.21 minutes). Black race was also associated with decreased odds of EMS prehospital notification (odds ratio [OR], 0.80). There were no associations between the social deprivation index (SDI) and differences in EMS use, but there were lower odds of EMS prehospital notification (upper SDI tercile versus lowest: OR, 0.79). There were significant associations between SDI and stroke symptom onset to emergency department arrival time (upper SDI tercile versus lowest: +2.56 minutes).

"Efforts to reduce place-based disparities in stroke care must address significant inequities in prehospital care of acute stroke and continue to address health inequities associated with race and ethnicity," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted September 2024

Read this next

High-Volume Exercise Tied to Increased Coronary Artery Calcification Score

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 -- Male athletes with high-volume exercise training have a higher burden of calcified plaque than male nonathletes, according to a review published in the...

Odds of Cardiovascular Events Up for RSV Hospitalization Versus COVID-19 Hospitalization

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 -- Patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalization have increased odds of any acute cardiovascular event compared with COVID-19...

Sedentary Behavior in U.S. Adults Declined in Last Decade

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 -- Sedentary behavior among U.S. adults fell between 2013 and 2020 but plateaued after that, according to a research letter published online May 21 in...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.