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In commemoration of both Black History Month and American Heart Month, NIMHD is shining a light on the importance of cardiovascular health in African Americans. According to the CDC, African Americans are 30% more likely to die from heart disease than white Americans and 40% more likely to have high blood pressure.
There are many causes for these disparities. Low-income African Americans tend to live in areas with less access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and safe exercise options. For example, more than half of the 23.5 million Americans living in food deserts are low-income, according to the USDA. Many of these individuals are African American.
There is also growing evidence that biology plays a role. For instance, the Jackson Heart Study is examining cardiovascular health in thousands of black Mississippi residents. Preliminary data suggest that visceral fat, which surrounds internal organs within the abdominal cavity, has a strong association with cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol and hypertension in African Americans.
Realizing the necessity of addressing both biological and social factors, NIMHD has funded hundreds of grants to improve heart health in the black community over the years. Some of these include:
Adjunct Vitamin D Therapy as a Means to Reduce the Disparity in Subclinical Target Organ Cardiac Damage among Vulnerable Hypertensive Patients
Based at Wayne State University, this R01 grant tests whether increasing Vitamin D consumption, which has been shown to have heart benefits, can reduce cardiovascular disease in African Americans. Using a sample of Vitamin D-deficient hypertensive African Americans with no history of heart disease, researchers are testing how Vitamin D therapy affects cardiac structure and vascular function. The hope is that Vitamin D therapy will prove to be an inexpensive way to reduce the risk of complications from cardiovascular disease.
Bronx Faith-Based Initiative to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Health
Led by the Institute for Urban Family Health, this community-based participatory research grant is evaluating a faith-based intervention to reduce heart disease and diabetes risk among African Americans, Latinos, and West Africans. The research team partnered with 20 New York churches, and faith-based coordinators distributed over 10,000 pieces of health literature and hosted almost 300 workshops. Pastors affiliated with the study also reported giving 138 health-related sermons, reaching approximately 1,500 community members per month. In one church cohort, researchers noted a 50% decline in participants who said they continued to eat when full. "God provides us with the foods," one participant said, "but we still have to eat in moderation."
HEP Community Approaches to Cardiovascular Health: Pathways to Heart Health (CATCH-PATH)
This community-based participatory research project at the University of Michigan boosts physical activity among African Americans and Latinos in Detroit. Researchers have enrolled 381 individuals in three walking groups, with two-thirds of participants attending at least 8 weeks of walking sessions. Researchers also noted a significant decrease in blood pressure among those who completed 8 weeks of walking. CATCH-PATH has supported biking events and jump-rope parties and funded transportation to walking trails throughout the Detroit area.
Men on the Move: Growing Communities
A community-based participatory research project at Saint Louis University, Men on the Move aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among males in Pemiscot County, Mo., where African American men die of heart disease at 1.4 times the rate of white men. To improve local access to fresh produce, researchers partnered with residents to create community gardens. These plots have provided more than 1,800 pounds of squash, okra, tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers, and other items to 150 families. Project members have hosted cooking demonstrations with 280 participants and provided leadership and teamwork training to 139 men. In surveys, residents involved in the intervention showed decreases in hypertension, body mass index, and consumption of processed foods.
Stereotyping in Medical Student Decision-Making: Presence, Origins, and Solutions
African Americans tend to receive less cardiac care -- including catheterization, coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) -- than whites. Alarmingly, at least in the case of CABG, the disparity is associated with increased cardiac death rates in the black community. This R01 study at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center is examining whether patient race, gender, or socioeconomic status influence student treatment recommendations, especially for cardiac services. Researchers will distribute a survey to students at 136 medical schools to determine the prevalence of non-clinical biases in treatment decisions. |
