Abstract T P148: Level of Education is Inversely Proportional to ABCD2 Score in Patients with TIA

Background: Racial and socioeconomic disparities in stroke care have been reported including decreased recognition of stroke symptoms, delay to presentation, severity of stroke at presentation, and inpatient management of stroke in minority and disadvantaged populations. However, similar racial disparities in patients presenting with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) has not been investigated. Since TIA represents a critical opportunity for prevention of major disability in these high risk groups, we sought to determine if there were racial or socioeconomic differences in ABCD2 scores on presentation with TIA. Methods: ABCD2 scores for patients presenting to the emergency department with suspected TIA (symptom duration Results: ABCD2 scores were calculated for 129 TIA patients. Among these, 31 patients identified as white, 19 as black, 71 as Hispanic, 8 as other race. Mean age was 67 years and 57% were female. 63% of patients had a prior history of hypertension. Mean total ABCD2 score varied among the different racial groups as follows: 4 for white, 4.05 for black, 4.4 for Hispanic, and 3.4 for other (p= 0.25). There was a trend towards higher ABCD2 scores at presentation among Hispanics (4.4) as compared with non-Hispanics (4.03) although this did not reach statistical significance (p=0.08). There were no sex differences in ABCD2 score, with mean scores of 4.3 for females and 4.08 for males (p=0.41). Education status was inversely proportional to ABCD2 score at presentation with mean score of 4.64 for those not completing high school, 4.11 for those completing high school, and 3.82 for those with education beyond high school (p=0.03). Conclusion: Although there was a trend toward higher ABCD2 scores at presentation in the Hispanic population, this difference was not significant. Level of education was inversely proportional to ABCD2 score at presentation suggesting that education may have a greater impact on TIA presentation than race or ethnic background alone.