Public release date: 14-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shantell Kirkendoll smkirk@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
ANN ARBOR, Mich. African-Americans know the signs of stroke, but concerns about medical cost, ambulance response time and unfamiliarity with the need for prompt hospital care impacted whether they called 9-1-1 immediately.
A study that included 77 African-Americans in Flint, Mich., revealed barriers among adults and youth in getting help for stroke which is significantly higher among African-Americans and leads to more deaths and disability.
Adults mentioned the cost of paying for an ambulance, while young people worried about staying calm if they witnessed someone having a stroke, according to the study by the University of Michigan.
"Overwhelmingly adult and youth participants recognized that stroke was an emergency, but to increase 9-1-1 calls for stroke, interventions will need to address factors beyond identification of stroke warning signs," says study lead author Lesli Skolarus, M.D., a neurologist at the U-M Health System.
The findings were published online Tuesday in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a journal of the American Heart Association.
U-M stroke specialists and public health experts partnered with Bridges to the Future to conduct the study in Flint, a city that's predominately African-American. Stroke hospitalizations there are among the highest in Michigan.
When a stroke happens, prompt hospital arrival is critical because intravenous clot-busting drugs can reduce permanent stroke damage, such as paralysis or vision and speech problems, if administered within four and half hours of the onset of stroke symptoms, Skolarus says.
In addition to the potential of receiving clot-busters, patients arrive faster in an ambulance, the hospital can be alerted in advance by emergency medical services and patients who arrive by ambulance are given priority in the hospital and are therefore treated sooner.
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What impacts whether African Americans call 9-1-1 immediately for stroke symptoms?