Study: Southern Blacks Die at Higher Rate

[Kire]

Study: Southern Blacks Die at Higher Rate
Wed Feb 2, 5:08 PM ET

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

NEW ORLEANS - Blacks in the South apparently get a double whammy of stroke risk: They die at much higher rates than either Southern whites or blacks who live elsewhere.

Researchers have long known that stroke deaths are greater among blacks and people in the "Stroke Belt" across the eastern part of the nation's midsection. But they thought the combined risk posed by race and geography was small.

"Much to our surprise, the finding is: No, it's not," said George Howard, a biostatistician who presented his research Wednesday at an American Stroke Association conference in New Orleans.

The rate of stroke deaths among black men in the South was 51 percent higher than it was among blacks in other parts of the country. And black men in the South had roughly four times the risk of dying of a stroke as white men living outside the South.

"That's a pretty big difference," Howard said.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050202/ap_on_he_me/stroke___race

[msgadget]

1. I read something in Time magazine late last year

about a gene that made black more succesptible to hypertension (salt sensitive) and meant to ask about it here. Thanks, Kire. I know my doctor assumed (wrongly) that I probably had high cholesterol and hypertension so I investigated a little.

One of the most controversial areas in the management of hypertension is the suggestion that there may be genetic or hormonal differences that lead to increased prevalence of hypertension in blacks as compared to white individuals.

Dr. Ferdinand stated that he did not like to look at genes to explain differences in populations. "Multifactorial, lifestyle-based conditions such as hypertension are not based on one gene or one set of genes in most people. Individuals respond to medication and to diet as individuals and entire populations can't be explained by genes. I think it's a big mistake."

Dr. Moser offered his opinion. "It is certainly very controversial. I agree that it is not a one-gene mutation. However, there are some studies suggesting that there are multiple mutations in different populations that may explain the possible differences in sensitivity to sodium and in drug response. I'm talking about all the mutations of the angiotensin genes."

Dr. Ferdinand pointed out, however, that there have been no genetic markers for hypertension found in African-Americans and that the medical community is too quick to blame genetics. Although he believes that genes may play a part, particularly in the epithelial sodium channel and variations of the angiotensinogen gene, he still feels that the reasons black patients are dying prematurely is due to bias within the medical system. Bias may encourage many healthcare providers to accept less than adequate blood pressure control in their black patients.

http://www.abchypertension.org/summary/summary.asp?stid=2&ld=2003-05-14|Controversies in Hypertension Management in African Americans> (scroll down to Genetics and Hypertension in African-Americans)

[candy331]

2. Die sooner/later but believe me all will die someday and all these

studies showing Blacks die sooner and Whites have superiority in living is poppycock, the grave yards are full of them both. So just keep living and I can assure you sooner/later we'll all wind up there.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. Well, I'd believe that black men and women are subjected to lower quality

in health care. I do believe that because I've seen it. The best doctors work at the best clinics where all the wealthy go. Yeah, we all end up dead sooner or later, but I'd rather die at 80 than at 50.

[msgadget]

5. LOL! Ya got that right, BUT,

when the president said Blacks' shorter life expectancy means they should embrace the new SS plan and I see references to genetic factors that kill us off sooner...

>Of all the lies -- let's call them by their right name -- that the Bush administration is spreading about Social Security, none is as vile as the canard Bush repeated last Tuesday, when he said, "African-American males die sooner than other males do, which means the system is inherently unfair to a certain group of people. And that needs to be fixed." That is an entirely phony assertion; it has been debunked by the Social Security Administration, by the Government Accountability Office and by other experts. Bush and those around him know that. For them to repeat what they know to be a blatant lie is despicable fear-mongering.
...
• Heritage failed to factor in the progressivity of Social Security benefits; on a taxes-paid to benefits-received ratio, those with lower incomes get more back. Blacks tend to earn less than whites, and thus their Social Security benefits are larger in comparison to taxes they pay.

• Social Security is more than retirement benefits. It also includes survivor and disability benefits. Blacks benefit disproportionately from those programs. While blacks are 11 percent of the workforce, for example, they are 18 percent of those receiving disability benefits. Almost half the blacks receiving Social Security -- 47 percent -- are getting disability benefits or survivor benefits.

The Social Security actuaries found that Heritage had exaggerated substantially the amount blacks pay in Social Security taxes and low-balled the benefits they receive. "In fact," the actuaries said, "results from more careful research reflecting actual work histories for workers by race indicate that the non-white population actually enjoys the same or better expected rates of return from Social Security than for the white population."

The GAO reached the same conclusion. It said that, "In the aggregate, blacks and Hispanics have higher disability rates and lower lifetime earnings, and thus receive greater benefits relative to taxes than whites."<

http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/5187689.html

[SemperEadem]

4. Stress is a killer

I would say that this finding can't be anything but true.

[kwassa]

6. How about diet? maybe it is that fine Southern cooking

though this would not explain the difference between blacks and whites in this situation. There are not big diet differences, are there?

[fortyfeetunder]

7. Find a copy of Southern Living

and read the recipes in those issues. I grant you there is no big difference in the food prepared Southern Style.

I collect the Southern Living cookbooks, but I cannot prepare most of the recipes as is unless they are vastly modified to eliminate frying, fat and sodium content.