New York - The African Americans living in other regions of the United States, particularly those in the south have a greater higher risk of death from stroke as compared to others.

According to the finding of Dr. George Howard of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which was on Wednesday at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2005, the African Americans in South carry more risk to stroke death than others.

Howard and his colleagues at Birmingham and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta gathered this information on deaths caused by strokes from state databases from 1997 to 2001.

They found the greatest differences in death according to race occurred in those 45 to 64 years old. Differences diminished with age until 85 years, when there was no racial difference.

According to the finding, the researchers found that white men from southern side ranging from  55 to 64 carried 29-percent higher risk of death from stroke than those white men living  in northern states. Southern black men had a 59-percent higher risk of stroke death than northern black men -- nearly twice that of white men as per the finding.

As per Reuters report, the black men between 55 and 64 in New York were 2.1 times more likely to die from stroke than white men in the same age bracket. Black men in South Carolina were 3.8-times more likely to die than white men living there.

"When it comes to your stroke risk, you get a penalty for being an African American, you get a penalty for living in the South and you get an extra penalty for being an African American living in the South," Howard commented in an American Stroke Association release.