Heart Disease Deaths Show Racial Gap
Blacks More Likely to Die of Atherosclerosis Than Whites
Nov. 13, 2006 (Chicago) -- Blacks are more likely to die of atherosclerosis than whites over the next decade -- despite the same degree of heart disease, according to a new study.
The study is one of the largest comparing long-term heart disease outcomes for blacks and whites. It was presented at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association (AHA).
The nine-year study evaluated more than 20,000 people with serious coronary artery disease. At the completion of the study, 36% of the blacks were still alive, compared with 46% of the whites.
Coronary artery disease is a form of atherosclerosis in which arteries that supply blood to the heart become severely narrowed due to the buildup of plaque.
In general, the black participants tended to have other risk factors that placed them at higher risk of dying, researcher Kevin Thomas tells WebMD. "But that didn't explain the entire disparity." Thomas is a cardiology fellow at the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, N.C.
Risk Factors May Play Role in Racial Disparities
For the study, the researchers analyzed the outcomes of 21,054 men and women diagnosed with serious coronary artery disease between 1986 and 2004; more than 3,000 participants were black.
Black participants tended to be younger at diagnosis, Thomas says. "They were also heavier. And they were 12% more likely to have diabetes, 15% more likely to have high blood pressure, and 13% more likely to have renal disease."
But even after the researchers took these factors into account, the disparity in death rates persisted, Thomas says.
"After adjustment, blacks were still 8% more likely to die than their white counterparts, which told us other factors must be at play," he says.