Stroke risk factors are rising faster among Black African and Caribbean people than their white counterparts, analysis of 30 years of data suggests.
Researchers at King’s College London analysed data from more than 8,500 adults in the South London Stroke Register over three decades.
It is one of the world’s longest-running population-based stroke registers.
The analysis found that diabetes and hypertension were increasing faster among Black people.
Black African participants were also twice as likely as white participants to have a stroke without a previous risk factor diagnosis, at 12 per cent compared with six per cent.
Around one in six people in the UK will have a stroke during their lifetime.
Dr Eva Emmett, a research fellow at King’s College London and lead author of the study, said: “Our study shows that the prevalence of pre-stroke hypertension and diabetes is higher and increasing faster in ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic groups.
“Together with Black people’s younger age at stroke and higher likelihood of having a stroke without a prior risk factor diagnosis, these findings call for targeted and earlier primary prevention efforts.
“NHS health checks, which screen for hypertension and diabetes, begin at the age of 40. However, this may be too late for higher-risk groups who often experience stroke at a younger age.”
Diabetes was about twice as common among Black Caribbean and Black African participants as among white people on the register.
High blood pressure was 29 per cent more prevalent among Black Caribbean participants and 47 per cent more prevalent among Black African participants.
Although diabetes increased across all ethnic groups during the study period, the fastest rise was among Black African participants.
The proportion affected rose from 21 per cent between 1995 and 2004 to 41 per cent between 2015 and 2024.
The data also showed socioeconomic differences among participants.
Diabetes was 23 per cent more prevalent among people in manual occupations, including bus drivers, security guards and plumbers, than among those in non-manual roles such as teachers and nurses.
It was also 21 per cent more prevalent among participants with lower levels of education.
Although diabetes diagnoses increased across all socioeconomic groups, the largest rises were among people in routine and manual jobs and those with less education.
High blood pressure also increased most sharply among participants from lower socioeconomic groups.
Dr Maëva May, director of policy at the Stroke Association, said the findings were a stark reminder that the benefits of prevention were not being felt equally.
She said: “Too many people from Black African and Black Caribbean communities, and those living in more deprived circumstances, are developing stroke risk factors earlier and are experiencing stroke before those risks have even been identified.
“Stroke is not inevitable.
“Many strokes can be prevented by finding and treating conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes early, but that only works if people can access the right care at the right time.
“Preventing stroke means preventing inequalities in who gets the opportunity to stay well.”
