Accelerating cardiovascular risk factor change in ethnic minority and low socioeconomic groups*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1047-2797(97)80012-9Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open archive

Purpose: Substantial declines in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and events have occurred in the overall population during the last 30 years. However, ethnic minority and low socioeconomic groups continue to have high rates of CVD, as well as premature illness and death.

Methods: Epidemiologic studies that examine the impact of ethnic and socioeconomic status (SES) on CVD are reviewed.

Results: Studies illustrate how the effects of ethnicity can be overestimated and the effects of SES can be underestimated in CVD studies because both ethnicity and SES are strongly associated with each other, as well as with CVD. Further studies show how disaggregated data can elucidate CVD differences by ethnicity and SES. Trends in CVD risk factors and events by ethnicity and SES are also shown.

Conclusions: The challenge during the next decade is to continue the declines in CVD risk factors in the overall population and accelerate the declines in ethnic minority and low SES groups. Two mutually reinforcing intervention approaches are recommended, a population-wide approach and a targeted subgroup approach; a combination that extends the benefits of CVD prevention to the growing diversity of Americans.

Key words:

Cardiovascular Diseases
Community Trials
Education
Ethnic Groups
Health Education
Primary Prevention
Risk Factors
Social Class

Cited by (0)

*

This work was done during the tenure of an Established Investigatorship Award to Dr. Winkleby from the American Heart Association. The research from the Stanford Five-City Project was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grants 1RO1-HL-21906 to Drs. Farquhar and Fortmann, and 1 RO3-HL-57100 to Dr. Winkleby from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

1

From the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA.