By: Ashmar Mandou
According to the Journal of the American Heart Association and the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, Hispanics living in the U.S. face more cardiovascular-related death in counties heavily populated by Hispanics than those living in more diverse areas. A decade of national data showed that Hispanic ethnic density or communities with high proportions of Hispanics, was strongly associated with death from cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack or stroke, a finding that remained after adjusting for sociodemographic and healthcare factors and may be due to other unmeasured neighborhood or individual-level characteristics, states the study.
“The finding that Hispanic population density is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality is noteworthy and challenges existing notions about the protective effect of cultural enclaves among Hispanics, or what’s known as the ‘Hispanic paradox,’” said lead study author Fatima Rodriguez, M.D., M.P.H., a cardiologist at Stanford University in Stanford, California. “Clinical and public health efforts should target cardiovascular disease prevention in counties where Hispanics live, design interventions outside of health care settings, and focus on improving neighborhood access to healthy food sources and physical activity.” Hispanics are one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic groups in the United States, currently accounting for an estimated 17 percent of the population, a number that is expected to reach 30 percent by 2050. They also experience a disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease risk factors, including obesity, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
“This important study reaffirms that zip code matters. When one considers that Latinos in those higher-concentration counties were also more likely to be lower income, have lower education levels, have lower rates of insurance, and fewer available primary care doctors, the results are not so surprising.” said Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., the American Heart Association’s chief medical officer for prevention and chief of the Association’s Centers for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who was not a part of this study. “Improving cardiovascular health and reducing cardiovascular disease mortality will take clinical approaches that increase health insurance rates and access to quality primary care as well as non-clinical, societal approaches to increase education levels and income, as well as approaches to reduce residential segregation.”
Co-authors: Jiaqi Hu, M.P.H.; Kiarri Kershaw, Ph.D.; Katherine G. Hastings, M.P.H.; Lenny López, M.D., M.P.H.; Mark R. Cullen, M.D.; Robert A. Harrington, M.D.; and Latha P. Palaniappan, M.D., M.S. Author disclosures are on the manuscript. Funding was provided by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
