Mexican Americans at Higher Risk for Stroke Recurrence

Ivanhoe Newswire
Wednesday, August 23, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Nearly one-third of people who have had a stroke in the United States have had one before. These recurrent strokes generally have worse outcomes, and people are more likely to die from them. Studies have revealed Mexican Americans, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, have an increased risk of stroke compared to non-Hispanic whites, but now, new research out of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor reveals they have an increased risk of recurrent stroke as well.

This difference between ethnicities was especially true for younger people. Mexican Americans, however, were not more likely to die from a recurrent stroke than others.

Previous research has revealed Puerto Ricans in the United States are nearly three-times more likely to have stroke recurrence compared to non-Hispanic whites. The Michigan researchers report, "If future work confirms the current finding that Hispanics experience greater stroke recurrence risk compared to non-Hispanic whites, factors contributing to ethnic differences should be investigated to improve outcomes following incident stroke."

Those who had a recurrent stroke in the study were also two- to three-times more likely to die from any cause.

Interestingly, Mexican Americans had better survival than non-Hispanic whites following ischemic stroke -- where an artery to the brain is blocked, preventing blood flow.

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SOURCE: Annals of Neurology, 2006;60:1-7