A new multistate analysis of nearly 800,000 adults shows Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) communities facing a disproportionate stroke burden that far exceeds that of other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Researchers reviewing hospital data from Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and New York found that the age- and sex-standardized annual incidence of acute ischemic stroke reached 591.4 per 100,000 among NHOPI individuals, compared with 179.7 per 100,000 for non-Hispanic White people and 292.2 per 100,000 for non-Hispanic Black people.
After adjusting for age, sex, and year of hospitalization, NHOPI individuals still had more than three times the stroke incidence of non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, and Asian individuals. The gap was widest among adults aged 80 and older, where NHOPI people experienced more than four times the rate of stroke compared with their non-Hispanic White peers. These stark differences underscore how stroke risk does not fall evenly across populations and highlight a particularly heavy toll on a fast-growing minority group.
Lead author Fadar O. Otite, MD, emphasized that Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander people are among the fastest growing populations in the country and already have “one of the highest rates of death from cardiovascular disease.” Otite stressed that “more research is needed into the reasons for this disparity so that it can be tackled appropriately,” signaling urgent questions about access to prevention, early treatment, and culturally responsive care in NHOPI communities.
See: “Striking Disparities in Stroke Rates Among Ethnic Groups” (September 09, 2025)
