BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham will use a $28 million grant to try to determine why Blacks and Southerners suffer and die from strokes at a higher rate than the rest of the country. Nationally, Blacks are about 40 percent more likely to die of a stroke than Whites are, said Dr. George Howard, the primary researcher for the study whose funding was announced last month.
“More disturbing, research indicates younger African Americans, ages 35 to 54, bear most of the excess burden,” Howard says. “They are four times more likely to die of stroke than any other race or age group. We need to know why.”
