African American Hypertension

According to the office of the minority health, approximately 48% of African American women and 44% of African American men suffer from some form of the cardiovascular disease which includes heart disease and stroke and adults are 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure while the women are 1.6 times more likely to die from heart diseases and complications than other ethnic groups (The Office of Minority Health, 2016).

The World Health Center Organization has identified depression as the fourth leading cause of total disease burden and the leading cause of disability worldwide. Research has focused on the role of socioeconomic status and the environmental risk of the underlying cause of these disparities in depression diagnosis and treatment. Research has also proven that African American women have lower rates of diagnosis, treatment, and control of hypertension compared to non-hispanics. Women are twice as likely as men to experience

Socioeconomic status is a health disparity in the United States. In 2012, McHenry concluded that there are approximately 84,000 preventable deaths that occur each year. Although the ACA has provided accessible health care to many people that would otherwise not be able to afford health insurance there still is a large population uninsured (Brown & Divenere, 2017). African Americans have a high prevalence of

Based on experience, many African Americans perceived receiving health care as an undignified, demeaning, degrating and humiliating experience. Most even resent clinics because of the medical jargon, the long waits, they feel segragated against. loss of their Often the lack of transportation, poverty, non- compliance with previously prescribed medicines also act as barrier for African Americans seeking health care.

African Americans are the third largest racial or ethnic population, totaling 13.2% of the United States population (CDC, 2015). Giger (2013) states, some health disparities associated with African Americans is due to discriminatory practices and inequalities in social, economic, and educational opportunities, rather than biological factors. Statistics identifies higher health disparities for this population reflected in overall mortality rates compared to other populations. According to the Office of Minority Health (2014), the adult mortality rate is higher in African Americans for heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza, pneumonia, and diabetes, as well as higher rates of infant mortality. For instance, the overall adult mortality rate for African Americans is 860.5 per 100,000 population compared to 731.0 per 100,000 population in Caucasian Americans according to 2012 data (KFF, 2015).

Health disparities among African-Americans is a continuing problem that has been seen over many years. African-Americans have higher poverty rates, have lower rates of insurance coverage, and are more likely to be covered by Medicaid, than the White population (Copeland, 2005). This lack of insurance has led many of these individuals, to not seek treatment for illness, due to problem accessing health care (Kennedy, 2013). This leaves African-Americans with little to no treatment, which causes an increase of medical care that will be needed further on in their life or a sooner than expected death, caused by illness (Copeland, 2005).

Health disparities amongst African-Americans continue to destabilize not just the various communities but the health care system as a whole. Minority groups especially African-Americans are more probable to agonize from certain health illnesses, have higher mortality rates and lower life expectancy than another other race in the nation. Health disparities are complex and incorporate lifestyle choices, socioeconomic factors such as income, education and employment and access to care services. For the elimination of health disparities within the African-American community, there requires a need for equivalent access to health care and cultural suitable health ingenuities.

The American Medical Journal explains that the heart disease is one of the deadliest medical conditions. Medical experts reckon that heart disease is a lifestyle disease, which emanates from excessive consumption of the wrong dietary combination. Foods such as fats and carbohydrates often expose individuals to the threat of heart disease. Consuming fast foods from McDonalds also expose people to the threat of heart disease. The most plausible means of mitigating the risk of contacting heart disease is by observing dietary combination. Individuals must keep a balanced diet always in order to avoid dietary concerns later on in life. The most common symptoms include chest discomfort, nausea, trouble sleeping, breathing problems, and unusual tiredness.

Race-based medications seem highly personalized to the consumer but are simply a short cut to the goal of individually-specific medication. Marketing drugs targeted at particular phenotypes such as race is incredibly lucrative for pharmaceutical companies. For NitroMed, this factor will be especially important because African Americans have far higher cases of hypertension than whites while tending to be less responsive to normal treatments than their white counterparts.

It is a cliché of health education that programs and interventions will be more effective when they are culturally appropriate for the populations they serve. In practice, however, the strategies used to achieve cultural appropriateness vary widely. This paper briefly describes African American history and how it relates to health care services. It explains the culture, value and belief of African American when it involves health promotion and disease prevention. Some major health concerns and barriers are noted within the black communities and population

Hypertension is a developing problem worldwide associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In 2020, the world population will be approximately 7.8 billion people, and there will be 1 billon people who may be affected by hypertension (Tomson & Lip, 2005). One in three adults in the United States has high blood pressure. According to the report “Health, United States, 2010 with Special Feature on Death and Dying,” the prevalence of hypertension among adults 20 years old or older increased from 24% to 32% during 1988-1994 and 2005-2008. The African-American population has a higher prevalence of this health condition than white Americans do. In 2005 to 2008, the prevalence of hypertension among black males (41.4%) was more than 10%,

Hypertension is also a risk factor that plays a role in congestive heart failure. According to WebMD, high rates of high blood pressure in African-Americans may be due to the genetic make-up of people of African descent. It is stated that about 41% of blacks in the United States have high blood pressure compared to the 21% of whites with high blood pressure. Also blacks living in the United States are known to have the highest obesity rate than of any other country.

Racial discrimination is the ground root of disparities letting African Americans to low socioeconomic status and poor health outcomes. Why disproportionality in health is so high among African Americans in the United States? Disparities limit the continuity of improvement in overall quality of care and population health and result in poor health outcomes as well as unnecessary costs. Despite an upsurge focus on reducing disparities and increasing a set of advantages to address disparities in the federal, state, community, and provider level, there is still disproportionately high among African-Americans. It is important to pay attention, recognize the disparities and address the wide range of factors that contribute to disparities in health and health care. Racism and cultural mistrust provide reasonable contributions to the disproportionate care among African Americans, yet these variables likely reveal variations in the health care services. The connections of racial discrimination, socioeconomic status, cultural mistrust, and perceptions of racism create an intricate set of variables that could be potential to impact the health of African Americans.

Research shows that the main cause of death in the United States has been found to be cardiovascular disease. The leading type of cardiovascular disease is Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and it accounts for the majority of these deaths. Coronary Artery disease is a type of blood vessel disorder that is included in the general category of Atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is often referred to as “hardening of the arteries.” (Lewis, 2011) Individuals with CAD have genetic predisposition. Familial hypercholesterolemia, meaning high cholesterol in the blood, has been linked with CAD at early ages. In majority of cases of hypercholesterolemia, clients who have angina or myocardial infarction (MI) can name a parent or sibling who has died from CAD. Individuals who have incidence of coronary artery disease are often more likely to fit the demographic of middle aged, Caucasian males. Coronary Artery disease is also present among African American, Hispanic, and Native American ethnicities. African Americans have earlier onset and African American females have a higher death rate and incidence than Caucasian women. Native Americans over the age of 35 years have mortality rates twice as high as any other American because of the modifiable risk factors that include tobacco use, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. Gender, a non-modifiable risk factor also plays a role on the individual with coronary artery disease. Men start to exhibit signs and symptoms of CAD 10 years earlier

Factors that contribute to hypertension are age, ethnicity, gender, and lifestyles as shown in Figure 1 (Yoon, Burt, Louis, & Carroll, 2012). While the prevalence of hypertension is relatively equal among men and women, certain ethnicities have a higher propensity for developing hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension in African-Americans is among the highest in the United States for a single ethnic group (Ferdinand & Armani, 2007). In the United States, around 78% of people suffering from hypertension are aware of their condition, with only 68% using hypertensive medications to control their blood