Acute Ischemic Stroke Up in Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander People

FRIDAY, Sept. 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The incidence of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is higher among Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (NHOPI) individuals than among other racial and ethnic groups, according to a study published online Aug. 27 in Neurology.

Fadar O. Otite, M.D., from State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, and colleagues used a retrospective approach to examine the State Ambulatory Surgery, Emergency, and Inpatient Databases of Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and New York. Age- and sex-specific incidence of AIS was compared for NHOPI adults versus non-Hispanic White (NHW), non-Hispanic Black (NHB), Hispanic, and Asian adults.

A total of 799,150 incident cases of AIS were identified among residents of all four states. The researchers found that the age- and sex-standardized incidence of AIS was 591.4 in NHOPI individuals, compared with 179.7 in NHW individuals. The incidence was more than three times higher in NHOPI adults versus NHW adults after multivariable adjustment (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR], 3.30). Incidence was also higher in NHOPI individuals than in Hispanic and Asian individuals (aIRRs, 3.91 and 5.66, respectively); there was a trend toward significance compared with NHB individuals. The incidence gap between NHOPI adults and NHW adults was seen in most age groups and was most marked among adults aged 80 years and older (aIRR, 4.24).

“More research is needed into the reasons for this disparity so that it can be tackled appropriately,” Otite said in a statement. “These findings also lend support to the need for parsing out information on race and ethnicity in health care databases, where Asian people and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander people are usually combined into one large group.”

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