title: Disparities in stroke incidence contributing to disparities in stroke mortality.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  While black-white and regional disparities in U.S. stroke mortality rates are well documented, the contribution of disparities in stroke incidence is unknown. We provide national estimates of stroke incidence by race and region, contrasting these to publicly available stroke mortality data.
  
  
  METHODS
  This analysis included 27,744 men and women without prevalent stroke (40.4% black), aged ≥45 years from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) national cohort study, enrolled 2003-2007. Incident stroke was defined as first occurrence of stroke over 4.4 years of follow-up. Age-sex-adjusted stroke mortality rates were calculated using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiological Research (WONDER) System.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 460 incident strokes over 113,469 person-years of follow-up. Relative to the rest of the United States, incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of stroke in the southeastern stroke belt and stroke buckle were 1.06 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87-1.29) and 1.19 (95% CI, 0.96-1.47), respectively. The age-sex-adjusted black/white IRR(black) was 1.51 (95% CI, 1.26-1.81), but for ages 45-54 years the IRR(black) was 4.02 (95% CI, 1.23-13.11) while for ages 85+ it was 0.86 (95% CI, 0.33-2.20). Generally, the IRRs(black) were less than the mortality rate ratios (MRRs) across age groups; however, only in ages 55-64 years and 65-74 years did the 95% CIs of IRRs(black) not include the MRR(black) . The MRRs for regions were within 95% CIs for IRRs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  National patterns of black-white and regional differences in stroke incidence are similar to those for stroke mortality; however, the magnitude of differences in incidence appear smaller.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham,1665 University Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35294-0022, USA. vjhoward@uab.edu
authors.forename: Virginia J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Dawn O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Kleindorfer
authors.forename: Suzanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Judd
authors.forename: Leslie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: Monika M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Safford
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cushman
authors.forename: Claudia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Moy
authors.forename: Elsayed Z
authors.initials: EZ
authors.lastname: Soliman
authors.forename: Brett M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kissela
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Howard
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015144:Southeastern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*