Blacks Suffer More Fatal Cardiac Events Than Whites: More Data on How and Why

Disparities persist even in analyses adjusting for social and physiological risk factors.

Blacks have higher mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) than whites. To explore this disparity, authors compared the incidence of fatal, nonfatal, and total CHD among ≈40,000 black and white individuals in three U.S. cohorts (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study).

After adjustment for age differences, the risk was higher for fatal CHD in black men than in white men but was similar or lower for nonfatal CHD. Black women, however, had higher risks for all CHD events (fatal, nonfatal, and total) than white women. After multivariable adjustments for social determinants of health and cardiovascular risk factors, differences we…

Reviewing Author

Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, FACC

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBoehringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Novartis; Lilly; Amarin

Speaker’s BureauBoehringer Ingelheim

Grant/Research SupportNIH

Editorial BoardsCirculation (Associate Editor)