Heart Disease and African Americans

Heart Disease

In 2018, African Americans were 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease than non-Hispanic whites.
Although African American adults are 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, they are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have their blood pressure under control.
African American women are nearly 60 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, as compared to non-Hispanic white women.

Age-adjusted percentage of coronary heart disease among persons 18 years of age and over, 2018
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
5.4	5.8	0.9

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-1a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

Age-adjusted heart disease death rates per 100,000 (2018)
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	270.6	213.1	1.3
Women	168.6	130.7	1.3
Total	212.0	168.1	1.3

Source: CDC 2021. National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 69, No. 13. Table 10.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/nvsr69-13-508.pdf [PDF | 2.05MB]

There are several risk factors related to heart disease. Some of these risk factors are:

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have high blood pressure, 2017-2018
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	57.2	50.2	1.1
Women	56.7	36.7	1.5
Total	57.1	43.6	1.3

Source: CDC 2020. Hypertension Prevalence and Control Among Adults: United States, 2017–2018. NCHS Data Brief, No. 364. Figure 4.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db364-h.pdf [PDF | 398.15 KB]

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have high blood pressure, 2018
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
32.8	24.0	1.4

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-1a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

Percentage of adults aged 18 and over with hypertension whose blood pressure is under control, 2015-2016
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	40.1	47.7	0.8
Women	48.5	48.5	1.0
Total	44.6	50.8	0.9

Source: CDC: 2017. Hypertension Prevalence and Control Among Adults: United States, 2015–2016. NCHS Data Brief, No. 289. Figure 4.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db289.pdf [PDF | 361 KB]

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 20 years of age and over who have high cholesterol, 2015-2016
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	24.3	33.6	0.7
Women	23.8	31.6	0.8
Total	24.1	32.7	0.7

Source: CDC 2019. Health United States, 2018. Table 23.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus18.pdf [PDF | 1.56MB]

Percentage of adults who received a blood cholesterol measurement in the last 5 years, 2017
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
90.1	87.3	1.0

Source: AHRQ 2021. National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query. Table 7 _5_ 1_ 4_2.1.
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who are current cigarette smokers, 2018
	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	17.6	16.7	1.1
Women	11.6	14.4	0.8
Total	14.3	15.5	0.9

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-12a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

Percentage of current smokers age 18 and over with a checkup who reported receiving advice to quit smoking, 2017
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
76.6	77.0	1.0

Source: AHRQ 2021. National Healthcare Quality Report. Table 7_2_1_1_1_.1.
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Last Modified: 1/31/2022 5:42:00 PM

Office of Minority Health