Blacks at Higher Risk for Brain Lesions Causing Stroke

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Blacks are more likely than whites to have small bleeds within the brain, increasing their chances of having a stroke, according to a new study.

Compared with whites, blacks had 32 percent more of these lesions, called cerebral microbleeds, which are tied to increased odds of having a stroke. Blacks were also more likely to have them in several different areas of the brain.

The study was published in the Oct. 7 issue of Neurology.

"Finding racial differences that could be linked with a higher prevalence for these brain lesions may lead to new methods for testing and treating people to prevent stroke," study author Dr. Chelsea Kidwell, of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., said in an American Academy of Neurology news release.

The study examined 87 people from the Washington, D.C., area who had suffered intracerebral hemorrhage, a stroke that involves bleeding in the brain. The group was roughly half black and half white.

Hemorrhagic stroke is two to three times more common in minorities. In up to 80 percent of these strokes, microbleeds are found.