Racial/Ethnic Variables That May Impact Physiological Functioning

Racial/Ethnic Variables That May Impact Physiological Functioning

TIA incidence is higher in Blacks than Whites in the US. Kamel et al. (2020) found that among US participants in the study, blacks faced a higher risk of early stroke recurrence following a minor ischemic stroke or TIA. This is even after adjusting demographics, comorbidities, and medication adherence. It has been found that Black and Mexican American persons have higher TIA incidence rates than non-Hispanic Whites (Lioutas et al., 2021). Therefore, the patient has a high risk of recurring TIAs or stroke if she is Black or Mexican.

How These Processes Interact To Affect the Patient

TIA cause temporary neurologic dysfunction because of a brief disruption in cerebral blood flow. Cerebral vasospasm or systemic arterial hypertension can interact to cause neurologic dysfunction. Besides, the processes affect the patient by causing visual, sensory, motor, and speech deficits. Visual deficits include blurred/ double vision, one-eye blindness, and tunnel vision (Simmatis et al., 2019). Sensory deficits include numbness in the face, arm, or hand and vertigo. Motor deficits include weakness in the upper or lower limbs and gait disturbance, while speech deficits include aphasia and slurred speech.

Conclusion

The patient’s symptoms are due to a TIA attack, which causes a focal neurologic deficit and speech disturbance due to insufficient blood flow to the brain. TIAs are more common and have a higher recurrence in Blacks. The pathophysiologic processes in TIA interact to cause visual, sensory, motor, and speech deficits.