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‘Substantial’ proportion of the population at high risk for CVD
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The prevalence of CVD among non-Hispanic black men increased significantly from 1999-2002 to 2011-2014 by a “substantial” amount, according to findings recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“Cardiac disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and some of it is preventable,” Arch G. Mainous III, PhD, department chair of health services research, management and policy at the University of Florida, told Healio Family Medicine. “If we can identify who is at high risk for cardiovascular disease, and then implement strategies to help these patients, we can do a better job at preventing it. That is why we did this research.”
Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 1999 (mean age 54.1 years) to 2014 (mean age 55.3 years) without a CVD diagnosis. They then calculated these persons’ risk for CVD using the new American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease risk score.
Researchers found that CVD prevalence among non-Hispanic black males increased from 53.5% in 1999-2002 to 65.2% in 2011-2014 using a 7.5% 10-year risk cut off.
“That's still a pretty high jump, even with the new American Heart Association guidelines for cardiovascular disease,” Mainous said.
He added that though the reasons for the high prevalence remains unclear, primary care physicians should not ignore the results.
“These numbers are alarming and should serve as a wakeup call. We hope these results can help guide treatment and decrease the number of people or the proportion of people who are at high risk. That would actually be a big win,” Mainous said in the interview.
Researchers also found that the prevalence of high-risk level did not significantly change over time for the entire population sample using the 7.5% 10-year risk level and declined significantly at the 20% 10-year risk level. – by Janel Miller
Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.