Strategies to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Stroke Preparedness, Care, Recovery, and Risk Factor Control: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Abstract

Stroke is a disease of disparities, with tremendous racial and ethnic inequities in incidence, prevalence, treatment, and outcomes. The accumulating literature on the relationship between stroke and social determinants of health (ie, the structural conditions of the places where people live, learn, work, and play) contributes to our understanding of stroke inequities. Several interventions have been tested concurrently to reduce racial and ethnic inequities in stroke preparedness, care, recovery, and risk factor control. It is regrettable that no common theoretical framework has been used to facilitate comparison of interventions. In this scientific statement, we summarize, across the stroke continuum of care, trials of interventions addressing racial and ethnic inequities in stroke care and outcomes. We reviewed the literature on interventions to address racial and ethnic inequities to identify gaps and areas for future research. Although numerous trials tested interventions aimed at reducing inequities in prehospital, acute care, transitions in care, and poststroke risk factor control, few addressed inequities in rehabilitation, recovery, and social reintegration. Most studies addressed proximate determinants (eg, medication adherence, health literacy, and health behaviors), but upstream determinants (eg, structural racism, housing, income, food security, access to care) were not addressed. A common theoretical model of social determinants can help researchers understand the heterogeneity of social determinants, inform future directions in stroke inequities research, support research in understudied areas within the continuum of care, catalyze implementation of successful interventions in additional settings, allow for comparison across studies, and provide insight into whether addressing upstream or downstream social determinants has the strongest effect on reducing inequities in stroke care and outcomes.