Black stroke patients arrive at hospitals later and are less likely to have emergency medical services (EMS) notify hospitals ahead of their arrival, according to a study led by researchers from the University of Michigan and Brown University. Published in Circulation, the study found that Black patients took approximately 28 minutes longer to reach emergency care after showing stroke symptoms compared to other patients. The median time for any patient to get to the hospital after stroke symptoms was 176 minutes.
Dr. Regina Royan, the study’s first author and clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, emphasized the critical nature of timely stroke care. “We found that Black patients who are having a stroke are being underserved in several ways during the chain of survival,” she said. The study reviewed data from over 600,000 patients in the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines Stroke Registry from mid-2015 through 2019.
The research also revealed that EMS workers were about 20% less likely to alert hospitals ahead of a Black patient’s arrival compared to a white patient. This lack of prehospital notification can lead to delays in receiving high-quality care upon arrival. Dr. Brian Stamm, co-author and clinical instructor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School, noted, “Quality improvements for EMS should be a target for stroke system redesigns in an effort to achieve greater health equity.”
See “Black Stroke Patients Arrive Later to Hospitals, EMS Less Likely to Notify” (September 19, 2024)
