Approaches to Care for Hypertensive African-Americans

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

     The article on Black America Web entitled “The state of Black America, Part 4: Health as Wealth” (Lewis, 17 Jan. 05) is mainly addressing how African Americans should get check-ups, eat a healthier diet, exercise, among other things to maintain their health. The authors main point of writing an article about health is so that African Americans will be propelled to take preventative measures to prevent and treat disease that may be debilitating or lethal, to get professional help if they are not feeling mentally prepared, and to put aside mistrust of the medical profession.

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.

African Americans are twice as likely to die of an illness such as cancer and heart disease as well as, less likely to have health access compared to any other race. African Americans are yet subject to racial discrimination and stereotypes in the health care, that leads them without the correct health screenings and treatments. The root of these racial disparities connects with the intersectionality of race, class, gender and education.

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.

hough freed from slavery over a century ago, African Americans and other minority groups are still enslaved by America’s rigid race classifications and assumptions. It is a fact that White Americans are significantly more healthy than African Americans, Asian American, Hispanics, and other minorities (HHS). For example, hypertension, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and kidney failure, is 12.2% higher among African American men than white men, and 16% more for African American Women (“Health”). This health gap has resulted in debates on whether these disparities are due to genetics or social factors, and whether or not race should be a factor in health care treatments. According the American Anthropology Association,

Chronic illnesses are a vicious cycle where one illness often leads to another. Think about people being obsese due to inactivity and eating habits. Which in turns into hypertension, diabetes and heart disease and obsesity if not monitored. Not one disease can come alone. African American men are 30% more likely to die from heart disease. 3.7 million (14.7%) of all African Americans aged 20 years or older have diabetes and or suffer from Hypertension. Stress is also a factor in heart disease and hypertension. Obesity is assumed to pose a risk for diabetes. On the other hand, blacks are less likely to report a number of conditions so the mortality rate is

The risks of getting those diseases are even higher for African Americans.” (American Heart Association). High blood pressure and obesity are the common conditions that increase a heart disease. High blood pressure is a condition in which the blood flow is abnormally higher than usual in the arteries. “Nearly 42% percent black men and 45% black women of twenty years and older have high blood pressure” (DeNoon). Researchers may have found a gene in blacks that make them more sensitive to salt, which in the long run increases the risk of high blood pressure. Obesity in african americans is more common as well, which increases the risk of heart disease. 63% of black men and 77% of black women are overweight or obese. A solution for high blood pressure and obesity is a healthy diet and exercise. It won’t only reduce the chances of getting these conditions but also reduce the chances of a heart disease or a

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

There are several race traits and risk factors from African-American such as Heart Disease, Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes, and Pneumonia/Influenza. Also they have those risk factors due to cultural difference diet and exercise such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, end stage renal disease, dementia, diabetes, and certain cancers. Especially, diabetes has more frequency reason of death among Black elders than in other ethnic people except American Indians (Health and Health Care of African American , n.d). In addition, according to the Health and Health Care of African American (n.d.), the death rate for all cancers is 30% higher for African Americans than for Whites, e (Health and Health Care of African American, n.d).

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 predominantly a major problem for African Americans whose occurrence percentages are amongst the highest in the world (Heckler, Lambert, Leventhal, Leventhal, Jahn, & Contrada, 2008). Even though there have been meaningful progress in treatment of hypertension, the number of patients with well managed high blood pressure condition remain worryingly low, with the latest trends suggesting a high rise in the number of uncontrolled high blood pressure cases. This is

profiling when assessing a patient’s medical status can lead to serious medical errors. “A recent study of geographic patterns of genetic variation, found that commonly used ethnic labels are both insufficient and inaccurate representations of the inferred genetic clusters.” A doctor may automatically assume that an African American presenting with shortness of breath, and headaches has hypertension or high blood pressure. Ruling out that the patient may have heart problems such as cardiomyopathy or may have Anemia but because the patient was African American and presented with signs that most African Americans face the doctor assumed it would be high blood pressure.

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