TUESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Among Medicare beneficiaries, blacks and individuals residing in certain parts of the southeastern United States are those most likely to be hospitalized for stroke, according to a report released March 28 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The report, entitled "Atlas of Stroke Hospitalizations Among Medicare Beneficiaries," provides county-level maps of stroke hospitalizations for individuals aged 65 and older. The report cites a stroke hospitalization rate for blacks that is 27 percent higher than for the general U.S. population, 30 percent higher than for whites and 36 percent higher than for Hispanics.
The atlas also shows that many Medicare beneficiaries live in counties without access to care or with inadequate emergency care options. Twenty-one percent of counties did not have a hospital, 31 percent had a hospital but no emergency department and 77 percent of counties lacked a hospital with neurology services.
"This atlas is a great tool for health professionals at the local, state and national levels as they design and implement programs to eliminate geographic and racial/ethnic disparities in stroke hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries," commented Darwin Labarthe, M.D., Ph.D., director of the CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.
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