A stroke can be a life-altering event and the complications that follow can pop up later, however an upcoming study suggests that the shade of your skin could determine if you’re being treated for strokes.
Following a stroke, in the years following Black or Hispanic patients weren’t treated for common ailments as frequently as white patients discovered by researchers.
“Black sufferers were significantly less likely to seek medical care for nearly every complication post-stroke and the biggest difference was when it came to treating spasticity, depression, and fatigue (muscle stiffness),” said lead researcher Dr. Kent Simmonds, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
“The massive amount of the treatment gaps creates the urgent necessity for health institutions and providers to do better job at recognizing post-stroke-related issues within populations of minorities and give patients explanations of the ways and reasons that medical treatment can be beneficial,” Simmonds said.
These disparities exist because of a complex set of “bio-psycho-social-environmental factors,” he added.
This kind of research is the best for determining the what , not the why, however, the results are in line with studies from earlier that showed that quality stroke care isn’t an automatic requirement, said Simmonds.
“Quality treatment requires cultural proficiency and trust between the providers and their patients” he said. “Many of the issues such as fatigue or depression need health professionals to look a bit deeper to understand the issues prior to discussing and offering appropriate medical treatment.”
The study was conducted by Simmonds and his coworkers examined the health records of 65 major U.S. health care centers of patients admitted to hospital for strokes between August 2002 between July 2022 and August 2002.
The researchers found the following: Black patients were more likely to receive treatment for any kind of condition, other than seizures, when compared to white patients. The most notable difference was in how to treat central nervous system stimulation muscles spasms, fatigue, and moods within the first two weeks after having the stroke.
As compared to white patients Black adult patients were 30 percent less likely to receive treatment for arousal of the central nervous system and 27 percent less likely to get diagnosed with muscle spasms, and 17 percentage less likely to receive treatment for mood disorders, the researchers discovered.
Hispanic patient were 20 percent less likely to receive the treatment needed for central nervous system awakening. 19 percent less likely to seek therapy for muscular spasms or muscle tension and 16 percent less likely to receive treatment for mood disorders as white people, Simmonds noted.
The results are scheduled to be presented on February. 8, at the American Heart Association’s annual conference in Dallas. The findings presented at medical meetings will be considered as preliminary until they are published in an open-access journal.
“It’s not unexpected that this study revealed differences in the use of treatments to treat ailments such as seizures and depression in Black as well as Hispanic adult patients,” said Dr. Karen Furie, a spokesperson for the American Stroke Association and chair of neurology at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School.
It’s not clear the reason for these differences and why they are there, said Furie who wasn’t involved in the research.
“For instance, it might be more difficult for doctors to look for these diseases within certain subsets of patients. There may be subsets of patients not willing to undergo treatment or have difficulties with access to treatment, or concerns about the cost of therapies , which can lead to the non-compliance of guidelines,” she noted.
“Fortunately we have a lot we’re aware of to assist patients in recovering however, doctors can’t provide treatment the patient unless families and patients are aware of problems of mood, levels of functioning, and the potential for problems,” Furie said. “This study will hopefully be one of many that can aid in identifying communities that require more assistance and aid health care professionals improve the process of providing care to families and patients in the post-acute stage.”
