This study obtained data from a registry base consisting of 1181 nationwide hospitals participating in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG) program. The researchers analysed information on 397,257 patients admitted with a principal diagnosis of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). Relative to white patients, black and Hispanic patients were younger and more often had diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Patient- and hospital-level adjusted analyses revealed that blacks were less likely to receive care as measured by the GWTG program, including use of tissue plasminogen activator soon after arriving at the emergency department, deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, smoking cessation, discharge antithrombotics, anticoagulants for atrial fibrillation, and lipid therapy. The odds of dying in-hospital were higher for black patients than for white and Hispanic patients. Whites and Hispanics received similar levels of care and had similar in-hospital mortality. However, during the course of the study, 2003 to 2008, adherence to the stroke treatment guidelines improved at similar rates for all three race/ethnicity groups.
