Racial Differences in Mechanical Thrombectomy Utilization for Ischemic Stroke in the United States

Background: Compared with non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), racial-ethnic minorities bear a disproportionate burden of stroke and receive fewer evidence-based stroke care processes and treatments. Since 2015, me­chanical thrombectomy (MT) has become standard of care for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with proximal anterior circula­tion large vessel occlusion (LVO). Objectives: Our objectives were to: assess recent trends in nationwide MT utilization among patients with AIS; determine if there were racial differences; and identify what factors were associated with such differ­ences. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using nationally representative data of a non-institutionalized population sample from 2006 to 2014 obtained from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). We identified a total of 889,309 observations of AIS, of which there were 5,256 MT observa­tions. Results: In the fully adjusted model, rate of thrombectomy utilization was significantly lower in African Americans (AA) (OR .67, CI .58-.76, P<.001) compared with NHW and Hispanics (OR .94, CI .78-1.13, P=.5). Conclusion: We found a significant dispar­ity in MT utilization for AA compared with NHW and Hispanics. More work is needed to understand the drivers of this racial disparity in stroke treatment. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(1):91-96; doi:10.18865/ed.30.1.91