Because of the predominance of Mexican-Americans and non-Latino whites in the study population, results for other Latino subgroups and African-Americans are not available.
The study followed 1,345 people who had their first strokes between 2000 and 2004 -- 53 percent of whom were Mexican-Americans -- and determined the frequency of recurrence through the end of 2004 and recorded details about their demographics, other health problems, and whether or not they had had another stroke.
They then compared these recurrent stroke patients with the other stroke survivors who had not had a second stroke; in all the study includes data from 124 recurrent stroke patients and 417 deaths among 1,311 stroke survivors for whom complete data were available.
Mexican-American ethnicity was a strong factor in a person's risk of a second stroke. The risk of recurrent stroke at two years among the first-time stroke survivors was 11 percent.
When the researchers looked at the risk of dying from any cause during the study period, the impact of having a second stroke was dramatic. Stroke survivors who suffered a second stroke were 2.67 times more likely to die than stroke survivors who did not have a second stroke in the study period. The increased risk from recurrent stroke was present for both ethnic groups even after the researchers corrected for other health factors, age and gender.
Now, Lisabeth says, she hopes other researchers will attempt to confirm these findings in other Latino subgroups and in other samples of Mexican Americans. And, it will be important to find out what factors including genetics, cultural and lifestyle differences, and underlying health problems contribute to the ethnic differences.
In the meantime, she and her colleagues suggest that people of any background who have survived a stroke or "mini stroke" (also called a transient ischemic attack or TIA) should talk with the
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Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
22-Aug-2006