Race & Heart Disease

Regarding heart disease, race falls under the category of risk factors that cannot be modified to reduce the risk contracting the condition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cardiovascular disease, or heart disease, is the number one cause of death in the United States. The condition consists of a number of diseases that compromise the heart. Heart disease can also affect your blood vessels.

Significance

• Research has demonstrated that multiple factors increase a person's possibility of getting cardiovascular disease or suffering a heart attack. These risk factors include age, sex and genetics. People over the age of 65 make up 82 percent of heart disease fatalities, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). If you're a male, you have a higher probability of experiencing a heart attack, and at a younger age, compared to females. Heredity is the third major risk factor. This includes race. There are other risk factors, such as smoking, nutrition, weight and lack of exercise.

Effects

• Heart disease is a hereditary condition. If your parents have heart disease, you stand a higher chance of getting it, too. Currently, African Americans have a higher death rate for heart disease at 271.3 per 100,000 people. In comparison, the age-adjusted rate for whites is 207.8. Other races also have a higher propensity for heart disease, including Hawaiians, American Indians and Mexican Americans. Incidents of obesity and diabetes are also higher in these groups.

Types

• There are different types of heart disease, including artery disease, heart attack, arrhythmia, heart failure and heart valve disease. Each has its own symptoms, which may include fainting, fatigue, dizziness, light fevers, lung infections, shortness of breath and swelling in the extremities. The wide range of the symptoms requires the assistance of a health care provider to properly diagnose the signs and proceed on a course of treatment. Because many of the symptoms associated with each type of heart disease are similar, it is important to see your doctor so that you can receive a correct diagnosis and prompt treatment.

Warnings

• The onslaught of cardiovascular disease usually occurs slowly, and sets in over a period of time. Typically,you are not aware of what is going on with your body. Heart disease can lead to sudden heart attacks. Some of the typical warning signs of a heart attack are shortness of breath, discomfort in the center of the chest that may leave and return, and discomfort or pain in the arms, legs and other areas of the body.

Prevention/Solution

• Race is a major risk factor of heart disease that cannot be controlled. However, there are a number of lifestyle and behavioral changes that you can implement that may reduce your chance of getting many forms of heart disease:

  1. Stop smoking, because smokers have twice the chance of incurring a heart attack versus a nonsmoker.

  2. Maintain total cholesterol level less than 200 mg/dL as recommended by the AHA.

  3. Keep diabetes under control.

  4. Lose excess weight, because too much weight puts increase stress on your heart.

  5. Make healthy changes in your eating habits. Changes in nutrition can lower your blood pressure, stabilize your blood cholesterol and help control obesity or diabetes.