Study estimates $334 billion in related expenditures by 2050

READ MORE: "Costs associated with ischemic stroke in Hispanic Americans are expected to top $334 billion between now and 2050, researchers warn.

Those costs include hospitalization, ongoing care and lost wages. In 2005, it's estimated that it will cost $3.1 billion to treat ischemic stroke in Hispanics. Ischemic stroke is caused by a blockage in an artery that supplies blood to the brain.

The findings were presented Friday at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in Kissimmee, Fla.

For their cost projection, researchers used Medicare and U.S. census data, along with information about stroke occurrence and the use of health-care resources after stroke.

Hispanics recently became the largest minority group in the United States and will make up an estimated 25 percent of the population by 2050.

Hispanics are twice as likely to develop ischemic stroke as non-Hispanic whites, the study noted.

'Three risk factors for stroke -- inactivity, obesity and diabetes -- tend to be more common in the Hispanic population,' study lead author Dr. Devin L. Brown, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan, said in a prepared statement.

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