Abstract

Background: There is evidence of a greater incidence of stroke in native populations and minorities. A total of 34% of the population in the Araucania Region is indigenous. The association between Mapuche ethnicity and stroke is unknown. The aim of the study was to estimate the magnitude of the association between Mapuche ethnicity and stroke occurrence in patients admitted to the Dr. Hernan Henriquez Aravena Hospital (HHHA) in Temuco, Chile. Methods: We performed an incident case-control-paired study with patients hospitalized with an acute stroke in the internal medicine service and controls from other medical services at the HHHA. One control was selected for each case, matched by gender and age (+/- 5 years). Results: A total of 104 nonconsecutive cases of stroke were included. The proportion of Mapuche individuals was similar between cases and controls (27.9% and 32.7%, respectively, P = .45). Hypertension and overweight-obesity were associated with stroke. Low socioeconomic status, rurality, diabetes, and smoking were associated with Mapuche ethnicity. In the conditional logistic regression model, Mapuche ethnicity was not associated with stroke. The odds ratio was .75 (P = .47, 95% confidence intervals: .35-1.62). Conclusions: There is no statistically significant evidence in the study to support the hypothesis of an association between Mapuche ethnicity and stroke. None of the control variables modified the effect of ethnicity on stroke.