black-white disparities in stroke incidence rates,” Williams said. “And its presence should not detract from the need to (search) for other medical causes in a stroke patient.”
He said the recent study was limited by the fact that about 48 percent of the sample was not directly genotyped, which could lead to a risk of misclassifying people with sickle cell trait.
“We need studies evaluating the association between sickle cell trait and stroke subtypes,” Williams said. “And more work is needed to understand the observed disparity favoring whites in age-adjusted stroke incidence rates between blacks and whites.”
Hyacinth agreed more in-depth studies are needed, but he said the overall message of the new study is clear: “If you or someone with sickle cell trait has a stroke, it is very unlikely that sickle cell trait is the only risk factor.”
Suffering from sickle cell anemia? Read up more on the condition on our Health Conditions tab on BlackDoctor.org.