Ashlee’ Robinson
Professor Elliott
English 100
11 December 2013
Being Black and Living with a Heart with Problems
According to the National Institution of Health News, as many as 1 in 100 black men and women develop heart failure before the age of 50, 20 times the rate in whites in this age group, heart failure developed in black participants at an average age of 39, often preceded by risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, and chronic kidney 10 to 20 years earlier. Black mean that most likely developed heart failure were either obese or had diabetes when they were younger.
According to the CDC of Vital Health Statistics, 60.1% of African-American males are overweight. Religion, culture, history, friends, family, and
…show more content…
Many kids now are to electronically smart and attached to their electronics soon if parents don’t take action more of our children will become obese along with developing the problems that come along with being obese. According to the American Diabetes Association 14.7 or 3.7million of All African Americans ages 20 years or older have diabetes: 20-80% of African American males have or will develop diabetes, those with type 2 diabetes 80-90% are obese. 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.
Congestive heart failure is when the heart weakens and the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body, or enough oxygen to the lungs. The picture shows a healthy heart and the proper flow and a heart that has the condition congestive heart failure. You can see that the heart on the left is slightly bigger in a sense. The condition narrows the arteries in the heart causing it hard to pump blood throughout the body. The symptoms of CHF: shortness of breath when laying down, fatique and weakness, edema (swelling of any organ or body
Congestive cardiac failure, also known as heart failure, occurs when the heart is weak and unable to sufficiently supply blood the body needs to function. Heart failure can often be successfully treated with
“One in nine deaths in 2009 included heart failure as a contributing cause. About half of the people who develop heart failure die within 5 years of diagnosis” (Heart Failure Fact Sheet). “Researchers have proven that African-Americans are at an increased risk of congestive heart failure. This is due to diabetes and high blood pressure, rather than race alone”. “There is no cure for heart failure. Treatments are used to relieve symptoms of CHF and try to prevent any further damage. The exact plan to help the patient depends on the stage and the type of heart failure the patient has”
Traditionally, the African American diet consisted of leafy green vegetables, fish, poultry, and beans. However, the cooking methods, such as deep frying, the heavy use of gravy, pork fat, and butter add a large amount fat and cholesterol to an otherwise heart-healthy diet. “Soul food” with its fried chicken, fried pork chops, and corn bread have become the traditional comfort food, and there is a large significant placed in the African-American culture on community and family gatherings centered around food. Historically, African-Americans lived a highly active lifestyle that compensated for a higher than average fat content in their diet. As modern trends swing toward a more sedentary lifestyle, the direct result is heart disease rising to be the leading cause of death among African-Americans (Cowling, 2006, p8).
The impact of diabetes on African Americans is disproportionate. An estimated four million of African Americans with the age of twenty and above are diabetic. They are more prone to have diabetes as compared to non-Hispanic whites. Once an African American reaches the age of 65,
Although there are a few “race related” diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, the illnesses that are killing the minority population are environment related, like Coronary Heart Disease. In a study done by Alan Goodman, he cites four important points about race and genetics:
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,
African American women are dying at a much higher rate in preventable health issues like HIV/AIDS, diabetes and heart disease. In February 2005, the Black AIDS Institute found that black women accounted for 72 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases in women in Los Angeles alone. Black women are also 25 times higher to get HIV/AIDS which is mostly due to inadequate health screenings.
Keywords: socioeconomic status (SES), cardiovascular disease (CVD), African American, risk factors, social determinants, and health disparities, institutionalized racism.
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).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines High Blood Pressure as the force of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries, which carry blood from your heart to other parts of your body. Blood pressure normally rises and falls throughout the day. But if it stays high for a long time, it can damage your heart and lead to health problems. High blood pressure raises your risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States. One out of every three adults over the age of twenty- that’s nearly eighty million Americans have high blood pressure. What’s more interesting is that nearly twenty percent don’t even know they don’t have it. Consequently, African American suffer more from this disease than any other race. According to the American Heart Association, forty percent of African American men and women have high blood pressure (AHA, 2016). Notably, adults twenty years and older consist of 42.6 percent are men and 47.0 percent are women that have this illness. For years’ researchers, have tried to understand why High Blood Pressure affect the African American at a higher rate than others. As a
African Americans have a 67% greater risk for Septicemia rate than non Hispanic whites. (9.4 per 1,000 blacks compared to 5.6 per 1,000 whites). African Americans also were 80% more likely to die from Septicemia. The reason for the higher risk is that Blacks tend to have more various diseases such as diabetes, obesity,
African American has been plague with hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure or the “silent killer” for decades. It is estimated that approximately 72 million Americans - almost 1 in 3 adults – are affected by this disease (National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI)). However, hypertension is more common in African Americans than Whites and other ethnic groups for the different classifications of blood pressure levels. According to Rosamond et al., 2007” African Americans have the highest prevalence rate of hypertension in the world. For example, a national survey in the US, found that the age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension was 78.7% for non-Hispanic blacks, 46.7% for non-Hispanic whites, and 41.8% for Mexican-Americans
Hypertension (HTN), also referred to as high blood pressure, is a condition characterized by elevated systemic arterial blood pressure. An elevated blood pressure is considered to be a systolic pressure of at least 140 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or a diastolic pressure of at least 90 mmHg. HTN is among the most common risk factors for heart disease among African Americans (Ferdinanc, 2006) and one of the leading causes of deaths in the United States. Spencer et.al., (2011) states that it is one of the leading indicators that contribute to heart disease, the leading cause of death in Baltimore City. Sickness and death from heart disease are much more likely to strike African Americans than Whites in Baltimore (DHMH, 2005). Spencer continues that in Baltimore City hospitalization percentage for 100,000 populations under 75 years old was 136.6 for Blacks and 15 for Whites.
Congestive heart failure is an older name for heart failure. Congestive heart failure takes place when the heart is unable to maintain an adequate circulation of blood in the bodily tissues or to pump out the venous blood returned to it by the veins (Merriam-Webster). The heart is split into two distinct pumping structures, the right side of the heart and the left side of the heart. Appropriate cardiac performance involves each ventricle to extract even quantities of blood over intervals. If the volume of blood reimbursed to the heart develops more than both ventricles can manage, the heart can no longer be an efficient pump.
Bibbins-Domingo et al. (2009) conducted an empirical examination into rates of heart failure among young adults. The article outlines the unfortunate fact that there is little empirical knowledge regarding the rates of heart failure within the young adult populations. This knowledge is even worse when it comes to examining minority populations, especially within the African American community that is increasingly vulnerable to heart conditions. With heart failure and other cardio conditions being such a prevalent problem in the United States, it is imperative that current discourse understand it much more than we do now. Thus, the purpose of this study was to better document and analyzes the incidences of heart failure in young adults, as to better describe any patterns or correlations within the group that would help provide better information. The overall hypothesis of the study was that African American populations were more likely to be vulnerable at this younger stage than their white counterparts. To meet this purpose, the study implemented an empirical study that examined heart failures of 5115 African American and white young adults, ages 18-30, over a period of 20 years. Results clearly showed that African American youth were at a much higher rate of early heart failure, as the study showed that out of the participants 27 had heart failure and 26 of those individuals were African American. This lead the study to