Up to one in four people with a brain aneurysm are misdiagnosed or wait too long for treatment, and Black women are more likely to have one in the first place.
Research published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology found that Black women are more likely to have brain aneurysms, particularly women who smoke or who have a history of high blood pressure. The same research found that Black Americans are less likely to be diagnosed, and less likely to be monitored or treated before an aneurysm becomes an emergency.
About one in fifty people has a brain aneurysm, according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, and most will never rupture. When one does, the numbers turn hard. Almost half of all ruptures are fatal, and most people who survive are left with permanent neurological damage. Black Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to have a rupture.
High blood pressure is the main cause of rupture, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and nearly 60 percent of Black adults have high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association. Black young adults are also about four times more likely to have a stroke than white young adults.
The warning sign worth knowing by name is the thunderclap headache, a sudden severe headache that people describe as the worst of their lives. Mayo Clinic says to seek medical attention right away. The other signs are nausea or vomiting, vision changes, pain above or behind the ear, confusion, facial numbness, a stiff neck, sensitivity to light, a seizure and loss of consciousness.
Screening is a conversation worth having before anything happens. An MRA or a CT scan is recommended for people who have two or more close relatives who have had aneurysms, and for people with severe high blood pressure alongside other risk factors such as smoking.
The useful part of all of this is the language. Up to one in four people with an aneurysm is misdiagnosed or treated late, and words like thunderclap headache, family history and imaging are the words that move a conversation in an emergency room from being soothed to being scanned.
