Stroke is a disease with tremendous individual, family, and societal impact. It is the number one cause of adult disability and third leading cause of death in the United States. Between now and the year 2050, the cost of stroke in the United States will exceed 2 trillion dollars. There is a tremendous ethnic disparity with respect to stroke in the United States. Mexican Americans are much more likely to have a stroke compared with European Americans. In Mexican Americans strokes occur at younger ages, are more likely to recur and have the same severity as they do in European Americans. Mexican Americans are the overwhelming largest sub- population of Hispanic Americans, the nation's largest minority group. This proposal, a scientifically-based rigorous behavioral education intervention trial, seeks to aggressively prevent stroke, especially in Mexican Americans. Faith and family are strong components of Mexican American culture. This project works with these positive fundamental elements in order to affect stroke prevention. This project will take place in Nueces County, Texas. The project investigators have worked in this community for the past 14 years and have published extensively regarding the stroke health disparity in this stable, non-immigrant community of Mexican Americans and European Americans. We have established a strong partnership with the Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi and assembled a team with tremendous experience at successful health behavior intervention research. Together, a proposal has been crafted that will directly speak to aggressive stroke risk factor reduction in Mexican Americans and European Americans in this representative United States community. The significance of such research is tremendous. As the Mexican American population grows and ages, the stroke impact will be felt with greater and greater intensity. Now is the time to develop aggressive, scientifically tested interventions to limit the burden of this disease on this important segment of the United States population, and to reduce the costs of this disease to the country as a whole, in keeping with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goal to """"""""identify culturally appropriate, effective stroke prevention programs for nationwide implementation in minority communities"""""""" by FY2010.
Mexican Americans, the largest sub-population of Hispanic Americans, the nation's largest minority group, have a higher risk of stroke than non-Hispanic whites. This proposal seeks to reduce stroke risk, especially in Mexican Americans, through a scientifically-based rigorous behavioral intervention trial. The public health impact of successful stroke prevention programs is enormous as stroke represents the number 3 killer and number one cause of disability in the United States.
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