Racial Differences in the Impact of Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure on Stroke Risk

Racial Differences in the Impact of Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure on Stroke Risk

Por: George Howard, DrPH; Daniel T. Lackland, DrPH; Dawn O. Kleindorfer, MD; Brett M. Kissela, MD; Claudia S. Moy, PhD; Suzanne E. Judd, PhD; Monika M. Safford, MD; Mary Cushman, MD, MSc; Stephen P. Glasser, MD y Virginia J. Howard, PhD.   JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(1):46-51.

Between the ages 45 and 65 years, incident stroke is 2 to 3 times more common in blacks than in whites, a difference not explained by traditional stroke risk factors. These findings suggest racial differences in the impact of elevated blood pressure on stroke risk. When these racial differences are coupled with the previously documented higher prevalence of hypertension and poorer control of hypertension in blacks, they may account for much of the racial disparity in stroke risk. Similar to racial differences in stroke mortality, the difference between blacks and whites in stroke incidence is substantially larger between the ages of 45 and 65 years. Moreover, “traditional stroke risk factors” explain only approximately half of this excess.