ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Having a stroke is bad enough. But having another one after surviving the first one is especially bad, more than doubling a person's risk of dying in the next two years, a new study finds.
The risk of a second stroke is especially high among members of the largest and fastest-growing subgroup of Latinos in the United States: Mexican-Americans. The new study finds that they are more likely than their non-Latino white neighbors to suffer another stroke in the first two years after living through one.
The study, published in the Annals of Neurology by a team from the University of Michigan Stroke Program in conjunction with colleagues in Texas, highlights the importance of what doctors call 'secondary prevention.'
In other words, those who live through a stroke should get special attention from their physicians and other health professionals to reduce their risk of having another one. And, because of their extra risk of suffering another stroke, those efforts should be especially stepped up in Mexican-Americans, the researchers say.
"This finding completes a picture that has been taking shape through research on ethnic differences in stroke," says lead author Lynda Lisabeth, Ph.D. "We know that Mexican-Americans have a higher overall risk of stroke, tend to have strokes starting at younger ages, and generally have a better chance of surviving their first stroke, compared with non-Hispanic whites. Now, by finding this higher rate of recurrence, we have a better idea of the overall burden of stroke in this population."
Lisabeth, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health, performed the study with her colleagues from the U-M Medical School, who have led a study of stroke in the southeastern coastal area of Texas near the city of Corpus Christi for several years. That area was chosen because of its large population of Mexican-Americans; they make up just over half th
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Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
22-Aug-2006