Obesity may predict stroke outcomes in black adults

Patients with obesity diagnosed with an intracerebral hemorrhage were more likely overall to experience a poor disposition outcome vs. patients with normal weight or overweight. ORs for poor disposition outcomes for patients with obesity were 0.26 vs. patients with normal weight (95% CI, 0.115-0.593) and 3.79 vs. those with overweight (95% CI, 1.68-8.52), according to researchers.

Overall, race did not influence disposition or hematoma expansion outcomes, but nonwhite adults with obesity were more likely to experience a poor disposition outcome vs. nonwhite adults of normal weight (OR = 6.84; 95% CI, 2.12-22.22) and nonwhite adults with overweight (OR = 8.45; 95% CI, 2.6-27.49).

“Importantly, our study differs as our study population included a large African-American population compared to [a] prior study, which was primarily an Asian population in South Korea,” Iwuchukwu said in a press release. “Our study is significant because, epidemiologically, [intracerebral hemorrhage] is a common type of stroke among 30- to 50-year-old African-Americans, and obesity was an independent predictor of outcomes in our study cohort.”