Half the people experiencing stroke symptoms ? especially those with lower incomes ? don?t seek medical treatment, researchers reported at the American Stroke Association?s International Stroke Conference 2007.
?People with health insurance were only slightly more likely to seek treatment; so from these results, it?s obvious there are other factors involved and we need to do a better job of addressing the barriers to stroke treatment and prevention,? said Virginia J. Howard, M.S.P.H., lead author of the study and an epidemiologist at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Researchers analyzed data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a national, population-based longitudinal study of African-American and white adults 45 years and older.
Interviewing over 20,000 participants every six months, REGARDS researchers are trying to determine the reason for higher stroke death rates in the southeastern states known as the Stroke Belt (the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana). They also want to know why stroke death rates are higher among African Americans.
The current study investigated behavior regarding stroke symptoms. Researchers asked participants if they had experienced any stroke symptoms and, if so, whether they sought medical care. These symptoms include sudden weakness or numbness on one side, sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, the inability to understand what others are saying, or the inability to communicate verbally or in writing.