A Comparison of Hemorrhagic and Ischemic Strokes Among Blacks and Whites

Overview

Our primary goal is to study temporal trends in the incidence rate, causes, treatment, and outcome of stroke among a large biracial metropolitan population of 1,349,351, of whom 215,611 (15%) are black (2000 Census). Such data are critical for the planning, intervention, and evaluation of public health efforts to decrease the mortality and morbidity due to stroke in the United States. We have completed this goal for 1993-94, 1999, 2005, 2010 and 2015. We are in the process of collecting this data for 2020. In the 2020 study period we will also be ascertaining 3 year recurrence rates for all incident stroke events.

For calendar years 1993-94, 1999, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 we will or have identified every hospitalized or autopsied stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) at all regional hospitals in our region. We will also estimate the number of non-hospitalized strokes and TIAs by screening for potential cases at more than 100 outpatient sites throughout five counties in Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. We plan to identify and abstract detailed information from the medical record for every potential case. These results will be compared with data from all stroke patients identified by similar methodology in all study periods. In addition, we have interviewed 1500 ischemic stroke patients and/or their families in the study periods 1999-2010 to obtain detailed information including demographic information, functional outcome and quality of life, access to and type of rehabilitation therapy, social support, caregiver availability and health status, access to post-hospital care, health insurance status, current health status, medications, prior risk factors, and knowledge about stroke signs and symptoms. We also obtained genetic material via a blood sample for most of this cohort.

Conditions