Data in a Vacuum? The Desperate Need for a Paradigm Shift to Prevent Heart Failure in Black Americans

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Alexis Okoh, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health; Alanna Morris, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-05-04
• Publisher: WILEY
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.121.021048
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: e021048
• End Page: e021048
• Keywords: UNITED-STATES; COLLEGE; RISK; global assessment; risk factors; Science & Technology; Cardiovascular System & Cardiology; MANAGEMENT; PRACTICE GUIDELINES; RACIAL-DIFFERENCES; Editorials; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; ASSOCIATION TASK-FORCE; race and ethnicity; DISEASE MORTALITY; heart failure; socioeconomic position heart failure; health disparities; Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

By 2030, projections suggest that >8 million adults in the United States will have heart failure (HF). 1 Given the enormous morbidity, mortality, and cost associated with this condition, strategies to prevent HF will have the most public health impact. The potential for prevention may be particularly impactful for Black Americans, who experience a disproportionate burden of HF, characterized by a younger age at disease onset and a higher burden of hospitalization and death, compared with other race‐ethnic groups. 2 , 3 , 4 The burden of HF in the Black community is largely driven by the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. However, recent sex‐ and race‐specific estimates of the 10‐year risk of HF from community‐based cohorts demonstrate a greater risk of HF for Black men and women compared with White individuals, regardless of whether the risk factor profile is optimal, intermediate, or high risk. 5 Other factors that play a significant role include subclinical left ventricular abnormalities and social determinants of health, although these can be difficult to quantify and integrate into risk prediction tools