Racial disparities in severity of cerebrovascular events.
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to determine if blacks hospitalized for cerebrovascular events had more severe cerebrovascular events than whites similarly hospitalized.


METHODS
Data from the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission were used to determine incidence of coma, death rates, age at death of those who died, and length of stay for acute hemorrhagic and occlusive stroke in hospitalized blacks and whites after adjusting for sex and, if appropriate, age.


RESULTS
With a single exception (number of patients with hemorrhagic stroke who died during short-term hospitalization), all indices indicated that blacks incurred more severe cerebrovascular events than whites (P < .05 or less).


CONCLUSIONS
Maryland state data from hospitalized patients indicate that blacks had more severe strokes than whites.
Kuhlemeier
K V
KV
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md 21239.
Stiens
S A
SA
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044383:Black People; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D044465:White People