High blood pressure may take a toll faster than once thought, according to a recent study involving young stroke patients in Detroit.

Seemant Chaturvedi, MD, and his colleagues conducted a study of 112 stroke patients under age 55. They found African-American patients were much more likely to have strokes caused by blockages in blood vessels inside the skull, or intracranial vessels, while Caucasian patients were more likely to have strokes caused by blockages in vessels in the neck, or extracranial vessels.

Generally, high blood pressure tends to adversely affect intracranial vessels more than extracranial vessels, Dr. Chaturvedi said. Hypertension is twice as common in African Americans than Caucasians.

“More and more emphasis needs to be put on screening African Americans for high blood pressure as early as in their teens and twenties,” Dr. Chaturvedi said. “If prevention is effective, maybe we’ll see stroke trends change.”

African Americans are about twice as likely to suffer strokes than those of other racial backgrounds. Dr. Chaturvedi chose to study relatively young patients because the risk of stroke doubles at age 55 and continues to double for each decade thereafter. About two-thirds of all strokes occur after age 65. By evaluating young stroke patients, Dr. Chaturvedi believes high blood pressure takes its toll earlier than once thought.

 Dr. Chaturvedi will present his research Feb. 11 at the American Heart Association’s 25th International Stroke Conference in New Orleans. Each year, about 700,000 people in the United States suffer strokes; 150,000 will die of them.

Dr. Chaturvedi also is leading the Detroit leg of a nationwide study on the effectiveness of two drugs in the prevention of recurrent strokes in African Americans. The program has enrolled 75 participants, but continues to seek African Americans who have suffered strokes.

Participants are given aspirin or another drug used to prevent blood clots, ticlopidine. The effectiveness of the drugs will be evaluated after about 1,800 participants nationwide are evaluated. For more information on volunteering for the study, call (313) 745-8937.

With more than 1,000 medical students, WSU is among the nation’s largest medical schools. The school is a leader in medical research in a number of areas including cancer, women’s and children’s health and the neurosciences.