UCLA researchers and their partners across Los Angeles County have been awarded an $11 million grant to fund research on community-based interventions to reduce the higher rates of stroke and death from stroke among disadvantaged Hispanics, African Americans and Asian-Americans.
Under the leadership of Dr. Barbara Vickrey, vice chair and professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the multi-partnered Los Angeles Stroke Prevention/Intervention Research Program in Health Disparities, will conduct two randomized, controlled, community-based trials of stroke prevention interventions. Learn more about the research here.
Stroke risk can be substantially lowered by increasing physical activity, controlling blood pressure, changing to a healthy diet, quitting smoking, lowering cholesterol, and – for certain people - taking medication like aspirin. However, the underserved populations targeted in this research program have numerous barriers to achieving these health goals. These barriers range from lack of transportation to visit a doctor, inability to afford medication, lack of knowledge about ways they can change their lifestyle to lower stroke risk, living in a neighborhood without sidewalks or where it is not safe to walk at night and inability to read food labels in English, among many others.
