Clinical research studyHigher Cardiovascular Disease Prevalence and Mortality among Younger Blacks Compared to Whites
Section snippets
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
We combined data from the 1999-2006 waves of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of the noninstitutionalized US civilian population administered by the National Center for Health Statistics.20 Details of recruitment and study procedures are published and available on the website.20 We focused on 2 racial groups, those who self-identified as non-Hispanic black or non-Hispanic white. We included participants who
Results
Blacks had higher age-adjusted prevalence of cardiovascular disease compared with whites (PR 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-2.0) (Table 1). We observed a significant interaction between age and race (P = .04 for linear trend in the log odds ratio for blacks versus whites across 10-year age categories) (Figure 1). The black-white ratio decreased with each successive decade, with no prevalence differences in cardiovascular disease observed in the older decades.
Patterns were similar for each of the specific
Discussion
Racial differences in cardiovascular disease prevalence vary by age, with the largest black-white disparities observed in young to middle age. These racial differences in disease rates across the age spectrum are masked in the traditional age adjustment of disease rates. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the current epidemiology of disease patterns for research, clinical, and public health efforts aimed at reducing cardiovascular disease health disparities.
Prior studies have
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Cited by (0)
Funding:Faculty Development in Primary Care-D55HP05165 grant (SJ) and the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Award (KBD). There was no pharmaceutical or industry funding for this manuscript.
Conflict of Interest: None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to disclose related to this manuscript.
Authorship: All authors had access to the data and a role in writing the manuscript.