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A new study claims that African Americans are at a higher risk of cerebrovascular disease when compared to Caucasians.

University of Texas researchers attribute their findings to impaired blood flow regulation in the brains of African Americans. The study involved exposing college-aged subjects to high carbon dioxide situations in order to determine how blood vessels dilated to allow carrying more blood and oxygen to the brain. The test subjects were matched in sex, body weight and age. They concluded that increased blood flow in African Americans was substantially lower compared to Caucasians.

"The study by Professor Brothers and his colleagues found that in healthy African American students, a major brain blood vessel did not widen as much as it did in healthy Caucasian American students, when both groups were exposed to a small rise in blood carbon dioxide levels. This could indicate a fundamental difference between the groups or an early change in function, which later in life may link to cerebrovascular diseases like stroke. African Americans have a much higher risk of this type of disease, so understanding how this comes about and also perhaps developing a method of screening for increased risk early in life is brought a little nearer as a result of this work," commented Dr. Mike White reader Exercise Physiology at the  University of Birmingham, in a press release. 

Though the study does not point out reasons for the difference, researchers say it could be due to impaired arterial function. The study only measured carrying capacity in blood vessel but researchers said it was the first to point out vessel dysfunction in healthy African Americans.

Researchers also called for more research owing to high incidence of stroke in African Americans to identify individuals with high clinical risk.

The findings of the study have been published in the journal Experimental Physiology.