Charlotte Vincent
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Natalie Colabianchi
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Applied Exercise Science / Kinesiology
Program: UROP
Session: Session 2 (10:00am – 10:50am)
Authors: Charlotte Vincent, Ian Lang, Cathy Antonakos, Stephanie Miller, Natalie Colabianchi
Abstract
The risk of stroke is not the same for all Americans. Black Americans are two times more likely to have their first stroke than White Americans. People who live in the southeastern United States have two to four times higher risk than those who live in other areas. Our study will explore the impact of segregation policies on stroke outcomes. Our sample will be focused on 17 southern states where segregation was mandated, previous to the 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Prior research that has been conducted has focused on racial differences in educational attainment. Our study will be focused on educational quality, through the student-teacher ratio indicator. The data used came from the REGARDS (REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke) study. Each participant filled out a survey that described their residential history and stroke symptoms or diagnoses. Incident stroke was adjudicated by medical professionals. Educational quality was pulled from state-level historical records. Our sample consisted of participants who lived in states with de jure segregation, and had 13 years of residential history available during their school years (n=4,902). From this point, a race-specific average student-teacher ratio was calculated for each participant over the course of their schooling. A t-test was conducted in order to compare student-teacher ratio by stroke incidence (a dichotomous variable). A p-value of 0.961 was calculated, indicating that there is not a statistically significant difference in student-teacher ratio by stroke outcomes for white and black participants. This outcome was surprising, considering the documented disparities in stroke incidence. Sampling bias may have played a role, as those who passed away from strokes may not have been accurately reflected in our sample. These results leave questions that should be investigated in future research to fully understand the intersection of racial and geographic differences in stroke outcomes.
