Newswise — BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The 2015 International Stroke Conference begins Wednesday, Feb. 11. The University of Alabama at Birmingham will contribute newsworthy presentations and moderators, and it has a number of experts available to weigh in on the news coming out of the conference:

• George Howard, Dr.P.H. – Howard is the principal investigator of the statistical analysis center for the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy vs. Stenting Trial (CREST) and is PI of the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. He is a professor in the Department of Biostatistics in the UAB School of Public Health. • Virginia Howard, Ph.D. – Howard is a co-PI on the REGARDS study and CREST as well as PI of a grant studying Childhood Socioeconomic Factors and Age-Related Cognitive and Vascular Health. She is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology in the UAB School of Public Health.• Suzanne Judd, Ph.D. – Judd is an expert in the role of vitamin D and blood pressure and dietary assessment. She is a co-investigator in the REGARDS study and an associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics in the UAB School of Public Health.• Leslie McClure, Ph.D. – McClure is a professor in biostatistics and is the PI of the statistical analysis center for the Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes (SPS3) and an expert in clinical trials, in addition to also being a co-investigator in REGARDS.

UAB presentations include (please observe noted media embargo dates and times):

• Palliative Care in Patients with severe ICH (embargoed until 2:20 p.m. CT, Wednesday, Feb. 11) – An important part of intracerebral hemorrhage recovery is palliative care, especially in patients with high ICH scores, given their poor prognosis. Palliative care can be very beneficial for these patients. In collaboration with researchers from the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) and the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care at UAB, April Sisson, R.N., will present her findings on a retrospective review of consecutive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients who received an inpatient palliative care consult compared to those who did not receive an inpatient palliative care consult at a tertiary care center.

• What can be done to reduce stroke disparities? – (embargoed until 4:45 p.m. CT, Wednesday, Feb. 11) – Blacks are much more likely to die from stroke than are whites. Using data from the REGARDS study, George Howard, Dr.P.H., will present his findings on suggesting that the key to reducing the black-white difference in stroke deaths is likely not better care of black patients in the hospital after the stroke, but prevention efforts to reduce the risk of stroke in blacks.

• Incident stroke and alcohol consumption among older adults (embargoed until 5:30 p.m. CT, Wednesday, Feb. 11) – It has been shown that alcohol consumption has an effect on stroke risk, but the extent of how alcohol consumption elevates stroke risk is unknown. Suzanne Judd, Ph.D., will present her findings on risk of stroke and alcohol consumption in black and white adults age 45-plus, collected using the REGARDS study.

• Can Prevention of Risk Factors Pre-Stroke Reduce 30-Day Post-Stroke Mortality? (embargoed until 9 a.m. CT, Thursday, Feb. 12) – Past studies looking at short-term survival following a stroke were generally focused on a patient’s data in the hospital after their stroke, causing limited insight into the association between pre-stroke risk factors and outcomes. Virginia Howard, Ph.D., will present her findings on whether pre-stroke risk factors are related to 30-day case fatality.

• Secondary Stroke Prevention Prescribing in a National Cohort (embargoed until 5:30 p.m. CT, Thursday, Feb. 12) – Making sure that patients are discharged from the hospital on the right medicines after a stroke is critical to stopping a second stroke. Karen Albright, D.O., MPH, a board-certified vascular neurologist and assistant professor at UAB, and Justin Blackburn, Ph.D., assistant professor at UAB, will have a moderated poster presentation on disparities in secondary stroke prevention medication prescribing after stroke discharge.

About UABKnown for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama’s largest employer, with some 23,000 employees and an economic impact exceeding $5 billion annually on the state. The five pillars of UAB’s mission deliver knowledge that will change your world: the education of students, who are exposed to multidisciplinary learning and a new world of diversity; research, the creation of new knowledge; patient care, the outcome of ‘bench-to-bedside’ translational knowledge; service to the community at home and around the globe, from free clinics in local neighborhoods to the transformational experience of the arts; and the economic development of Birmingham and Alabama. Learn more at www.uab.edu.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a separate, independent institution from the University of Alabama, which is located in Tuscaloosa. Please use University of Alabama at Birmingham on first reference and UAB on all subsequent references.

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