The United States has lost progress in reducing disparities in stroke deaths between black and white adults during the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday.
“Before the pandemic, the disparity between blacks and whites was due to differences in the treatment and control of high blood pressure, which in turn are rooted in certain social determinants of health,” said CDC epidemiologist Adam Vaughan. “During the pandemic, those disparities have possibly been exacerbated. “
From early 2020 to 2021, stroke deaths increased among all racial and ethnic groups, but with higher rates for minority populations.
Black adults were 45% more likely than white adults to die from stroke in 2018. Today, they are 50 percent more likely, and for black adults ages 35 to 54, the stroke death rate is 2. 5 times that of white adults. in the same age group. experiment.
Vaughan noted that the shift in knowledge between pre-pandemic and 2023 is largely due to the fact that more black adults have strokes than white adults, not because more white adults have strokes.
CDC has known several reasons why those gaps have widened over the past 3 years:
The CDC released a report in April indicating that COVID is linked to a growing threat of stroke, and that disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 among blacks may have increased the disproportionate increase in stroke death rates among blacks.
The American Stroke Association also cited a Nature Medicine that found a 52 percent increased risk of stroke among COVID-19 survivors, or about four more strokes in 1,000 people, a year after contracting the virus.
In April 2020, the New York Times asked, “Where have all the attacks on downtown gone?At the time, cardiologists across the country reported at least a 40 percent reduction in hospital admissions for attacks at the center.
Doctors have noted reports of fewer stroke admissions.
It wasn’t because fewer people had those medical emergencies. In fact, they probably had more, but other people were more reluctant to seek remedy right away.
“It is possible that these interruptions have led to delays in stroke treatment, as well as in the treatment and control of high blood pressure and other stroke threat factors,” Vaughan said.
Therefore, the CDC reports that delayed stroke treatment and care would likely have worsened stroke outcomes and increased the risk of death.
The lockdown that accompanied the pandemic has been shown to worsen many people’s intellectual health, physical activity, nutrition, and sleep quality. On Wednesday, CDC officials said those adjustments would likely have disproportionately affected black adults, expanding their threat of stroke.
“To address and decrease those fitness disparities in this country, we will need to dedicate ourselves to identifying and addressing all the issues related to fitness disparities, managing and controlling the threat points like hypertension, diabetes, and making sure everyone has access to preventive remedies and services. ” said Booker Daniels, a fitness communication specialist at the CDC.
Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for Advertiser and Report for America. You can reach her at hhitson@gannett. com. To help her work, subscribe to the advertiser or donate to Report for America.