Obese African-American women tend to be predisposed to hypertension-induced heart failure, according to a study conducted at the University of North Carolina. This population needs immediate outreach on controlling their hypertension, say the study's authors.
Although researchers have long known that hypertension plays an important role in heart failure, African-American women with elevated body mass seem to be at a higher risk of developing heart failure than other groups. For instance:
- hypertension was the main cause of heart failure for 40% of African-Americans in the study, compared with 7% of non-African-Americans.
- 34% of the women in the study had hypertension as the principal cause of heart failure, compared to 21% of men; and
- hypertension was the main cause of heart failure for 40% of the overweight patients, compared to 17% of the non-overweight patients.
The study, based on data from 680 patients from the University of North Carolina's Heart Failure Database, is published in the Oct. 31 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
(American College of Cardiology, 301/897-5400)