Young blacks at a higher risk of heart disease

California, March18: According to a new study an alarming number of heart failures are occurring in those under 50 years, with an overwhelming number among African Americans.

In a large-scale study to examine the racial disparity in heart disease, researchers discovered that one in 100 black adults, develop heart failure in their 30s and 40s. This rate was 20 times higher, when compared to white men and women in the same age group. It was noticed that the rate of heart failure among young black adults coincided with white men and women in their 50s and 60s.

Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, author of the study and co-director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at the University of California stated "What these data point out is that it's important to recognize that disease patterns differ in different populations."

The researchers recruited around 5,000 volunteers from four cities, following them for a period of20 years. Tabs were kept on their blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, fasting blood sugar and kidney function. These tests were repeated six times in the two-decades.

During the course of the study 27 people developed heart failure by age 50, and all, with an exception of one were black. Five people died, all black.

There are no clear indications as to why blacks are vulnerable to heart attacks. However experts feel genesdefine, rate of hypertension, obesity, and lack of proper health care may be a contributing factor.

Black patients tend to respond differently to medication, requiring different doses at different frequencies than whites. Also there is evidence that some medicines were not effective in black patients.

Most of the African Americans who developed heart disease were either suffering from high blood pressure, obesity, chronic kidney disease or low levels of "good" cholesterol. Of all these factors chronic kidney disease was the main culprit.

Bibbins said "These are the risk factors sitting in our teenagers, particularly our minority teenagers. This is a wake-up call."

Dr. Mandeep R. Mehra, chief of cardiologydefine at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “It’s scary. I think one could describe this in many ways as an epidemic in the young African-American patient, and really, it calls for structured health care efforts in the patient."

Dr Mehra stated that the best way to keep heart failure at bay was to adhere to a healthy lifestyle. Blacks have a weakness for salt, which is linked to high blood pressure, so it is important that young African-Americans limit their salt intake. Besides they should inculcate healthy food habits and be physically active.

Dr Bibbins felt “These are people who are in the prime of their life and should be contributing in all kinds of ways. So this disease has a devastating effect, not just on the individual patient but on the family, the community and society in general.”

Heart failure is a condition that can be fatal. Patients who suffer from it tire easily, suffer from shortness of breath, and it effects the quality of their life.

Experts feel that the study might be just the “tip of the iceberg,” since only those patients whose heart failure led to a hospitalization or to death were taken into consideration.

The report was published in the March 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.