AARP <\/a>| By\u00a0 Joyce Sampson | September 21, 2022 | Black Adults<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bRichard Horton, an insurance broker in Pasadena, California, walked around for at least a decade of his middle-aged years with blood pressure hovering around 178\/95 millimeters of mercury (mm\ufeff Hg, the unit of measurement for blood pressure), dangerously close to a hypertensive crisis and a sure candidate for stroke. For comparison, what\u2019s considered a normal level for most adults is less than 120\/80 mm\ufeff Hg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diagnosed with\u00a0high blood pressure<\/a>\u00a0during a routine physical exam in the late 1990s, he wasn\u2019t worried. Per his doctor\u2019s orders, he returned for weekly follow-up visits to monitor changes. The numbers didn\u2019t improve. But Horton, who is Black, didn\u2019t receive treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt that point,\u201d he recalls, \u201cthe doctor said that in the medical field, we find that African Americans have a higher blood pressure rate than whites and others. Because of that fact, we\u2019re not going to push medication, but we\u2019ll keep an eye on your pressure. If it gets much higher, then we\u2019ll prescribe medication.\u201d (Research shows Black patients often aren\u2019t offered the full range of appropriate treatments when it comes to blood pressure management.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August 2011, while preparing to close a big sale, Horton climbed out of bed and walked into the bedroom wall. He was having a stroke. During a hospital stay that lasted over two months, Horton, who was then 55, had a second stroke. He couldn\u2019t walk, talk or use his left arm. \u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. have stroke each year \u2014 this happens when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked or bursts \u2014 and Black adults bear a disproportionate burden of those cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the risk of stroke among Black Americans is nearly twice as high as it is for whites, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows; some studies suggest it’s even higher. Black Americans are also much more likely to die from stroke, and those who do survive are more likely to be disabled than stroke survivors in other racial groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. have stroke each year \u2014 this happens when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked or bursts \u2014 and Black adults bear a disproportionate burden of those cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,1,343,2],"tags":[2130,12,25,77,62,2131],"class_list":["post-12142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-ins-blog","category-insurance","category-life-insurance","category-shield-blog","tag-black-adults","tag-health-insurance","tag-healthcare","tag-insurance","tag-shield-insurance-agency","tag-stroke"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\tA growing gap\u00a0<\/strong>| Black Adults<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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