LOS ANGELES, May 18, 2023 -- Stroke care is rife with inequities, and fixing them will require more research into issues such as structural racism and other "upstream" social factors that affect where people live, learn, work and play, said the American Heart Association in a new report.

The report summarizes research on ways to address racial and ethnic disparities in stroke treatment, according to a scientific statement from the association, the nation's largest voluntary organization devoted to fighting cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

The report was published in the journal Stroke on Monday.

The report's authors found that few stroke studies addressed racist policies, such as residential segregation, said the association in a news release, adding that they also looked at issues such as food availability, economic stability, education quality and access to health insurance.

"There are enormous inequities in stroke care, which lead to significant gaps in functional outcomes after stroke for people from historically disenfranchised racial and ethnic groups, including Black, Hispanic and Indigenous peoples," Amytis Towfighi of the University of Southern California was quoted as saying.

Towfighi, who served as chair of the statement's writing group, pointed out that people from historically disenfranchised populations are less likely to get to an emergency room within the time window for treatment.

"In addition, there are persistent racial and ethnic inequities in post-stroke risk factor control, and studies specifically addressing these inequities have not found the optimal method to mitigate the disparities," she added in the news release.

The report also said that historically disenfranchised populations are vastly underrepresented in stroke clinical trials, which contributes to the lack of understanding and reduces the generalizability of research findings -- exacerbating inequities and leading to worse outcomes.