PREVALENCE OF ATHEROTHROMBOTIC BRAIN INFARCTION AND EXTRACRANIAL CAROTID ARTERIAL-DISEASE, AND THEIR ASSOCIATION IN ELDERLY BLACKS, HISPANICS AND WHITES

Black men are 2.5 times as likely to die of stroke as white men.1 Black women are 2.4 times as likely to die of stroke as white women.1 In Los Angeles County, stroke accounted for a greater percentage of the deaths from cardiovascular disease among blacks and Hispanics than among non-Hispanic whites and Asians.2 Elderly blacks have a higher prevalence of atherothrombotic brain infarction (ABI) than elderly whites or Hispanics. 3 Patients with extracranial carotid arterial disease (ECAD) diagnosed by carotid duplex ultrasonography have at follow-up an increased incidence of ABI.4-8 We are reporting data from a prospective study investigating the prevalence of ECAD with 40 to 100% arterial luminal diameter decrease and of ABI, and their association in 1,063 elderly blacks, Hispanics and whites. © 1993.