Black Americans more likely to develop fatal conditions than whites

onnaedo

July 21, 2015 4:55 PM

For the new study, the researchers compared 179 black people and 1,745 white people from Oregon who suffered sudden cardiac arrest between 2002 and 2012.

___3997573___https:______static.pulse.com.gh___webservice___escenic___binary___3997573___2015___7___21___17___158672946-690x450

A new study has found that Black Americans are more likely to suffer sudden cardiac arrest than their white counterparts.

The research further said that black participants were also more likely to suffer cardiac arrest at a younger age than whites and to have known risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease.

For the new study, the researchers compared 179 black people and 1,745 white people from Oregon who suffered sudden cardiac arrest between 2002 and 2012.

Overall, black men were most likely to suffer cardiac arrest, with an estimated 175 cases per 100,000 people per year. Among black women, the rate of cardiac arrest was 90 cases per 100,000 people per year.

In contrast, the annual rates were 84 per 100,000 people among white men, and 40 per 100,000 people among white women.

Furthermore, blacks were significantly younger, by more than six years, than whites at the time of cardiac arrest.

Also found was that blacks in the study were much more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease, compared to their white counterparts.

They were also more likely than whites in the study to have conditions that prevent the heart from pumping enough blood to the body, have thick walls in the heart's main pumping chamber and rhythm disorders.

According to senior author, senior author Dr. Sumeet Chugh of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, disparities in healthcare between races can come down to genetic, social or cultural differences.

Dr. Venugopal Menon of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio however cautioned that the new study should not necessarily be alarming, because the results are only based of the medical records of a relatively small number of black participants.

onnaedo