-Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times
-November 6, 2012
A study done by doctors from University of Alabama shows that African-American men and women are twice more likely to suffer and die from coronary heart diseases than whites. There is actually a huge difference between the statistics for whites and blacks, even though the rates have dropped since the 1970s. The drop was more for the whites than the blacks. Between 2003 and 2007 almost twenty-five thousand were tested to see if they had coronary heart diseases, and were tested again in 2009. They found that about 659 people were diagnosed with having these heart diseases, and black men had a fifteen percent higher chance of suffering, and black females had forty eight percent chance over white females. Even though they were all the same age, the black men even had a higher chance of smoking, having diabetes, low kidney function, and high blood pressure and body mass index. Even fifteen thousand Latinos, with South American, Mexican, and Cuban backgrounds that participated in another study, showed that eighty percent of the men and seventy-one percent of women had at least one risk factor leading to a heart disease; twenty-five percent of Puerto Ricans had at least three. Even if the percentages are low for whites, they still must be careful to stay away from these diseases.
No matter what color a person is, they still have a chance of getting heart disease. This all matters on how well a person takes care of themselves. Eating unhealthy foods is an easy way of getting heart problems in the future. It is obvious that people do not take care of themselves as well as they should. Maybe blacks are more susceptible of having coronary heart disease, but all humans are vulnerable to this dangerous disease.
ReplyDeleteYour health does not necessarily depend on your race or ethnicity. Disease could be passed down from generation to generation but this does not mean that you have a higher chance of contracting disease because you belong to a certain ethnic group. Black men and women went through some very tough times around fifty to seventy years ago. These tough times included harsh labor for them. The poor circumstances lead to increased amounts of stress which effected their health in many ways. This was then probably passed down to the later generations and that is why these studies showed these results. However, your health is mainly based on how well you take care of yourself.
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ReplyDeleteWhat George said is as true as it can get. That is probably the reason why a black male or female has a higher chance of suffering from heart diseases. This being a fact, it should be a warning for African Americans to take a step further in being careful and protecting their health. As Preny, Arek, and George stated above, this does not mean and should not be an excuse for any other race to be careless about their health. Everyone still has a high chance of suffering from heart diseases if they do not treat their bodies correctly, and keep healthy.
ReplyDeleteOur health is a part of being a human being that we have to care about. Although it may be known that black people have a higher chance of getting diseases, rather than white people, it is still dangerous for everyone else. Diseases or bacteria can enter our bodies at any moment by one careless and unhealthy act to our own bodies. If one has a family member with a disease that is hereditary, then it should come to their attention to look into it more and to find ways to prevent them from catching the disease as well. Heart disease is one of the diseases that has caused the most deaths throughout the world, killing people whether they are black or white. The color of one's skin or one's race does not matter when it comes to health.
ReplyDeleteThis article you wrote presented many interesting facts that I was not aware of. First of all, I never thought a correlation existed between coronary heart disease and the ethnicity of a person, but according to this article, that is true. To the chagrin of many African Americans, this piece of information can be justified by looking at half a decade or so of history. The discrimination and racial prejudice African Americans received in the 1950s all the way up to the late 1960s, may have been the factor that cause many of them to develop a coronary heart disease. The stress. depression, and oppression blacks received had their longterm effects on not only them, but their children as well, because of this observable change in genetics. It is evident that the current situation in this medical field are not as advanced as mankind would want, because of the high numbers of people that carry on this disease. It is interesting to know why the white population is significantly healthier than other races such as the blacks and latinos, when it comes to coronary heart disease.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is a country of many freedoms, but the main thing it lacks is health. Hundreds of people die a day from causes ranging from a gun shot to a heart attack to cancer. Heart disease is a deadly risk that no one should ever experience. All the stress and fast food in this country are the main weapons killing people. The statistics listed above are truly sad. It is more reasonable to see a person die of old age then suffer a painful death with a harsh disease, but of course life is not perfect after all.
ReplyDeleteI have to definitely agree with George, he has the main idea down. Heart disease or any other types of diseases are mainly from generations, and not because of one's race or ethnicity. However, because diseases can be passed down from generations, does not mean one should not take care of one's self, their body, and the mind. Taking care of yourself should be the thing one should think about before thinking about the genetic traces he or she got from the generations before. Most important thing should be keeping one's self healthy and far away from diseases.
ReplyDeleteI agree with George, ones race or ethnicity does not affect ones health. But the type of food the culture feeds the individual would have an affect on ones health. Armenians and Americans have one thing in common with their food, they are extremely greasy, which of course is not a good factor for ones health. One should eat healthy and avoid diseases and have a proper work out session at least one hour a day. Avoid watching television and avoid food like bread, rice and cheese. These are ways to prevent cardiovascular diseases and keep ones self healthy and happy.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with George. Preny, I am sure you are familiar with this topic, since we just covered it in our Health eleven class. The color of your skin DOES affect what type of diseases a person has. For example, many dark-colored skin individuals have sickle cell disease, because their ancestors constricted them from their environment in Africa. This spread throughout the race, and rarely any white individuals have it. However, there are many ways to prevent diseases or to detect them at early stages so that no harm will be caused to the body.
ReplyDeleteHeart disease is the number one cause of death in America. Anyone can get it. I was surprised to read that African Americans are more likely to get it, but taking in consideration that race is a big factor of diseases, I understand this study. It is quite sad that it is more common in African American people but every race has its own thing and the human population just needs to find cures to treat anything they come across.
ReplyDeleteHeart disease is now very common in the United States, due to the sedentary lifestyles people lead and the foods they eat. This raises the risk of heart disease. If a person lives in this way, they may fall victim to heart disease. The color of a person's skin has nothing to do with the function of their heart.
ReplyDeleteIt is scary to know that a certain race is more likely to have certain diseases. I wonder why it is that African Americans, specifically women, have a higher chance of having heart diseases. It must obviously be tied to their genetic information, but why are they more prone to those diseases instead of other races? I hope that if people are able to find the answer to my question then they will be able to find a cure or come up with better medication that will help decrease the percentage of heart diseases in African Americans.
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ReplyDeleteHow funny! I was actually about to write my article about this too. It is extremely heart breaking to hear that by being born into a certain race comes with deadly side effects. I agree that one factor that may play a huge role in this is stress. African Americans were oppressed and downtrodden for years, and they were forced to complete hard labor without the proper supervision. Therefore, their genes must have been inherited by their children; and evidently passed down to today's generation of African Americans. Unfortunately, stress has been known to be the reason behind many abhorrent diseases, and has endangered the lives of many. Nevertheless, individuals who belong to races, other than African American, should not take this news lightly. They must always take care of themselves and take all the necessary precautions in order to prevent such horrific illnesses from happening. After all, not one soul is guaranteed a healthy, disease-free life.
ReplyDeleteBeing born into a certain race or ethnical group is not the child’s choice. Why should that kid suffer for their skin? Scientists and research teams have to take a part in trying to find a way to stop the suffering. A white man has a lower chance of getting heart disease than a colored man. This should not even be a statistic, for a man does not deserve the pain. After hundreds of years of discrimination and suffering, colored people are still being harmed, in another way now. I am sure that today, our advanced research teams can find that cure, and I am confident that they will bring an end to this percentage of death rates of a colored man. Overall, all people have to change their diets if that is the cause for their heart problems. Be careful with this life, because it is the only one you have.
ReplyDeleteI was never aware of the fact that skin color contributes to the health of a person. It is quite stunning that a black man or woman is more likely to have problematic health and heart diseases than a white man or woman. I understand that the African Americans withstood a great deal of obstacles and inhumane treatment, which may be a factor of their health risks. However, I am not sure if that is what sets the difference between the health of White people or African Americans. This is an interesting topic to research and fully understand, because one will not know the reason for the health statistics, unless one reads different articles about the topic. It is possible that the skin color alone, causes all of the differences in health, or it may be another factor leading to the results and statistics.
ReplyDeleteThis article had a lot of interesting facts that I am sure most of us did not know. I definitely learned a lot and am sure most of us did as well. I think it is lamentable that African Americans have to deal with this deadly disease and they do not deserve it. People do not choose what race they are a part of, or what the color of their skin is, and so on. Even though this research is saddening, this study can be useful to African Americans and make them more aware and careful of how they take care of their body. The truth hurts, but you can always take actions to prevent it from happening.
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