Black people’s risk factors for stroke ‘rising faster than for white people’

People from Black African backgrounds were also twice as likely to have a stroke without a prior risk factor diagnosis than white people, the study found. Photograph: Blend Images/Alamy

Stroke risk factors including high blood pressure and diabetes are rising faster among people from Black African and Caribbean backgrounds compared with their white counterparts, according to analysis.

Researchers at King’s College London analysed data from more than 8,500 adults over a 30-year period from the South London Stroke Register, one of the longest-running population-based stroke registers in the world.