AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND WOMEN HAVE THE HIGHEST STROKE MORTALITY IN TEXAS

Background and Purpose Hispanic American (HA), African American (AA), and non-Hispanic white (NHW) populations are well represented in Texas . The Texas HA population is 95% Mexican American, affording compariso n with other Hispanic populations. From risk factor profiles we expect ed stroke mortality to be highest in AAs and HAs. We also expected str oke mortality to be considerably higher for men than for women based o n previous data. Methods We used International CIassification of Disea ses, 9th Revision, codes 430 to 438 to search Texas vital statistics d ata for the 5-year period from 1988 through 1992. Race/ethnic differen ces are presented in age- and sex-specific format to avoid masking the important interaction of age and sex with stroke mortality. Results W omen constituted 61% of the 40 346 stroke deaths in Texas during this period. The ratio of stroke deaths for women versus men approximates t he ratio of women to men in the population. AAs had a threefold to fou rfold increased stroke mortality relative to NHWs at young ages. At ol der ages, when stroke mortality is the highest, the stroke mortality r ate in NHWs approached the stroke mortality rate of AAs. HAs had a sig nificantly higher rate of stroke mortality at younger ages relative to NHWs but a significantly lower rate at older ages. Conclusions Measur es to prevent stroke mortality should emphasize its predilection for y oung AAs and women. A rigorous surveillance project is needed to deter mine whether stroke mortality is underestimated in the HA population.