• Alain Lekoubou, Matt Pelton, Djibril M Ba, and Paddy Ssentongo.
• Department of Neurology, Penn State University, 30 Hope Drive, Hershey, PA 17033, United States; Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Epidemiology, Penn State University, Hershey, PA, United States. Electronic address: alekouboulooti@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
• J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2021 Aug 1; 30 (8): 105877.

BackgroundCerebrovascular prevalence is high in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, whether racial disparities exist among this population have not been systematically explored.MethodsWe performed a retrospective study to assess the prevalence of stroke stratified by race among patients aged 18 years or older with COVID-19 who visited emergency department (ED) up to August 13, 2020 in the United States (US). We used multivariable logistic regression to compare the odds of stroke in Black patients with COVID-19 compared to their non-Black counterparts while adjusting for the major potential confounders.ResultsAmong 8815 patients with ED visits with COVID-19, 77 (0.87%), 95% confidence interval CI (95% CI): 0.69% to 1.10%) had ischemic stroke. The mean age of patients with stroke was 64 years (SD: 2 years); 28 (43%) were men, 55 (71%) had hypertension, and 29 (50%) were Black. The prevalence of ischemic stroke in Blacks, non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics was 1.26% (95% CI: 0.86% to 1.83%), 0.84% (95% CI: 0.51% to 1.37%) and 0.49% (95% CI: 0.26% to 0.88%) respectively. After adjustment for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, drinking and smoking, the likelihood of stroke was higher in Black than non-Black patients (adjusted odds ratio, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.13 to 7.15, p=0.03).ConclusionsRacial disparities in the prevalence of stroke among patients with COVID-19 exist, higher in Black population.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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