Race-ethnic disparities in hospital arrival time after ischemic stroke

Abstract

Objective: Conflicting reports exist about hospital arrival time after stroke onset in Hispanics compared with African Americans and Caucasians. Our current study investigates race-ethnic disparities in hospital arrival times after stroke onset. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of hospital arrival times in Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian acute ischemic stroke patients (N=1790) presenting to a tertiary-care hospital in the Bronx, New York. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify the association between race-ethnicity and hospital arrival time adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), NIH stroke scale (NIHSS), history of stroke, preferred language and transportation mode to the hospital. Results: There were 338 Caucasians, 662 Hispanics, and 790 African Americans in the cohort. Compared with Caucasians, African Americans and Hispanics were younger (P