Mexican-American Stroke Victims Fare Worse Than Others

Compared to non-Hispanic whites, Mexican-Americans have severe neurological, functional and cognitive outcomes 90 days after suffering a stroke, claims a new finding.

Several pieces of research earlier have revealed that Mexican-Americans suffer from an increased risk of strokes, but the risk of death is low compared to non-Hispanic whites. This new study claims that the prolonged survival is often accompanied by some disability due to the stroke.

The study participants, victims of stroke, belonged to the Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi (BASIC)project. In this study the researchers looked at the neurologic outcome in 513 people, the functional outcome in 510 people and cognition in 415 people.

Among the total study group nearly 64 percent were Mexican-Americans. Nearly half of them were women and the stroke survivors in the Mexican-American group were younger with a median age of 65 compared to 72 for non Hispanic whites.

The researchers found that moderate functional disability was present in Mexican-Americans and one-third of them also suffered from post-stroke dementia. Nearly 48 percent of them had worse neurological outcomes compared to the non-Hispanic whites and also they scored worse on the language dysfunction and several other factors on the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale.

On the modified Mini-Mineral state Examination, the Mexican-Americans had the worse cognitive outcome.

"What we found most notable was the difference in functional outcome," said Lynda Lisabeth, Ph.D., M.P.H., study lead author, University of Michigan School of Public Health. "Mexican-Americans did worse on all the measures of daily living activities compared to non-Hispanic whites."

The functional outcome in the study group was analyzed based on the activities of daily living scores (ADL) as well as the instrument activities of daily living score (IADL). Nearly seven of the function activities are measured by the ADL score that include activities like bathing, eating, dressing, moving, grooming, walking and toileting. The IADL consists of 15 questions associated with daily functioning. The level of functional impairment in Mexican-Americans was considerable.

"This study provides the first piece of information on the prognosis of Mexican-American stroke survivors," Lisabeth said. "The clinical and public health information we discovered is important for future research in stroke prevention and rehabilitation in stroke survivors. We don't yet have a complete picture of recovery for Mexican-Americans and what potential intervention strategies can improve their recovery."

The study was documented in the journal Stroke.