Blacks Less Likely to Receive Atrial Fibrillation Treatment and More Likely to Have Strokes, and Southerners are More Likely to Die from Strokes

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New studies from the Mayo Clinic and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) show that African Americans are less likely to know they have atrial fibrillation or to be treated with anticoagulants to prevent afib-related strokes, and that stroke deaths are higher among blacks throughout the U.S. and southerners in eight "stroke belt" states.

These eight southeastern stroke belt states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Stroke rates were highest in the three "stroke buckle" states, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

These studies, presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2010, provide the first national data on racial and regional disparities in atrial fibrillation awareness and treatment and stroke incidence.

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