Abstract WP139: Racial Disparities in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Younger Age, Fewer Acute Stroke Treatments, and Higher Complications Among Black Patients in the United States

Introduction: Racial disparities in stroke care remain a major contributor to inequities in neurological outcomes. We aimed to evaluate demographic differences, vascular risk factors, acute stroke treatment patterns, and in-hospital outcomes between Black and White patients hospitalized with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Methods: This was a large retrospective study using the 2022 National Inpatient Sample. All adult AIS patients were identified and grouped by race (White vs Black). Other races were excluded. Demographics, risk factors, presumed etiologies, acute treatments, and hospital outcomes were compared using survey-weighted analyses with rao-scott chi square and linear regression. Results: Among 689,596 AIS hospitalizations, 455,360 (66.0%) were White and 123,175 (17.9%) were Black. Black patients were significantly younger (median 65 vs 73, p