April 21, 2023 – For decades, the rate of Black people dying of strokes has been higher than the rate for white people. But during the first two years of the pandemic, the difference ballooned by an additional 22%.
In new figures released by the CDC today, an estimated 3,835 Black people died of strokes who may have otherwise survived had pre-pandemic stroke trends continued.
Stroke is the fifth-ranked cause of death in the United States. The rate of stroke increased among white people during the pandemic, too.
From 2015 to 2019, the average rate of stroke among white people was 70 per 100,000, and among Black people was just over 101 per 100,000. The average stroke rate for 2020 and 2021 was 74.6 for white people and 112.6 for Black people per 100,000 people, respectively. The calculations reported by the CDC were among adults age 35 and older.
The report is the latest to show that the health of people of color has been disproportionately impacted during the pandemic.
“Any health inequity that existed before seems to have been made larger during the pandemic,” Mayo Clinic stroke expert Bart Demaerschalk, MD, told The Associated Press. “This is another example of that.”
The CDC researchers said the new data “underscore the importance of identifying the major factors contributing to the widened disparities ... and developing tailored interventions to reduce disparities and advance health equity in stroke mortality between Black and White adults.”
They noted that high blood pressure and diabetes especially posed an increased stroke risk for Black people.
“The COVID-19 pandemic caused a substantial shift in health care for patients with high blood pressure and might have exacerbated existing inequities in high blood pressure treatment and control among persons of color,” the CDC researchers explained. “Reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations for stroke, partly because of fear of SARS-CoV-2 infections (especially during the early phase of the pandemic), suggest that delayed stroke treatment and care might have resulted in worse stroke outcomes and increased risk for death.”
During a stroke, blood flow is blocked to the brain or a blood vessel in the brain bursts. It can result in brain damage, long-term disability, or death. Warning signs include face drooping, arm weakness, and speech difficulty. Anyone with these symptoms needs immediate medical attention.
The CDC researchers also said that the pandemic’s impacts on mental health, physical activity, diet, and sleep quality “might have disproportionately affected persons of color, resulting in increased risk for stroke.” Another contributing factor was likely that illness caused by COVID-19 itself is associated with an increased risk for stroke, and Black people were disproportionately infected with the virus.
