Introduction
This infographic examines the structural and systemic injustices originating from racism and discrimination that continue to affect Black people’s health and healthcare (Lopez-Neyman et al., 2022). Blacks still have more excellent rates of morbidity and death than Whites, even though the gap in health insurance coverage between the two groups has shrunk since the Affordable Care Act was passed. When seeking care for themselves and their family, Black individuals are also more likely to encounter discrimination and obstacles related to medical issues (Lopez-Neyman et al., 2022). When it comes to measures like family wealth, food insecurity, and poverty, disparities that exist outside of the healthcare system also have a detrimental effect on the health of Black families (Blach et al., 2022). Black Americans’ significant healthcare and health-related inequalities have been brought to light and made worse by the COVID-19 epidemic. Improving the health and well-being of Black people requires addressing these discrepancies (Lopez-Neyman et al., 2022). When it came to heart disease-related mortality in the U.S. in 2015, Arkansas was in fourth place (worst). 12,9% of the 7,938 Arkansans who passed away from heart disease in 2015 were Black (Jain et al., 2022). In Arkansas, the total cost of hospitalization for cardiovascular illness topped $116 million in 2014 (Jain et al., 2022). This paper will discuss Heart disease in African Americans, specifically in Arkansas, the predisposing factors, and strategies to address the gap in health.
Background Information
There were 188 of them in the 1810 U.S. census, or almost 18% of the state’s total population. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, the African American population in Arkansas grew proportionally to 110,000 individuals or 25% of the total population. The African American population in Arkansas has experienced suffering and adversity from the state’s early territorial days to its current statehood. They have overcome obstacles with courage and tenacity, and they have left a lasting legacy of influential role models for the rest of the globe. However, disparities exist in several domains, including economic opportunity, health, and education (Blach et al., 2022). Black women in Arkansas persisted in actively pursuing civil rights throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
The most common cause of death in the U.S. is heart disease. The figures are considerably more startling among African Americans. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that non-Hispanic White people have a 30% lower risk of dying from heart disease than African Americans do (Williams et al., 2023). According to research, African Americans may have genes that raise their risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, and they are also more sensitive to salt. Obesity disproportionately affects African Americans. Compared to non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans are more prone to getting diabetes (Barnes et al., 2022). A systematic approach to examining the health issues that individuals face, health needs assessment establishes priorities and allocates resources to promote health and lessen inequality. Compared to their urban counterparts, Americans who live in rural locations are more likely to pass away from chronic lower respiratory diseases, cancer, heart disease, stroke, and accidental accidents. States and communities bear heavy expenditures as a result of these health inequities (Barnes et al., 2022).
Analysis of Demographic Information
The analysis of demographics reveals that 3,011,524 people live in Arkansas overall, where a quarter of the population is under the age of eighteen. According to the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), 2020, 17% of the population is 65 years of age or older. There are 75 counties in Arkansas, and the population of a few counties in central, northwest, and northeast Arkansas is increasing. In the meantime, the population generally is declining in counties in eastern and southern Arkansas. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state population is 7.8% Hispanic/Latino, 15.7% African American, and 79.0% white. From 186,050 in 2010 to 235,389 in 2019, Arkansas’s Hispanic population grew, where 10% or more of people in 10 counties identify as Hispanic.
Adult Black adults experience hypertension in 59% of cases. Of all the racial and ethnic groupings, this one has the most frequency. During pregnancy, persistent hypertension is twice as likely to develop in black women than in white women (Lopez-Neyman et al., 2022). This condition elevates future cardiovascular disease risk. Compared to white adults, black individuals had a twice higher hospitalization rate for heart failure (Lopez-Neyman et al., 2022). In addition, they stay in the hospital longer and have a higher chance of returning within ninety days. Compared to white males, black men are 70% more likely to get heart failure (Jain et al., 2022). Compared to white women, black women are 50% more likely to get heart failure.
Cardiovascular disease and cancer are two areas where there are particularly noticeable healthcare disparities that benefit racial and ethnic majority populations (Blach et al., 2022). In addition, rural communities have more risk factors and less access to healthcare than their urban counterparts, and low-income individuals are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. High blood pressure, high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and secondhand smoke, obesity, poor nutrition, and inactivity are the critical risk factors for heart disease and stroke (Williams et al., 2023). Chronic disparities in the death rate from cardiovascular disease are caused by factors such as genetics, upbringing, material circumstances, and disadvantaged populations’ higher rates of obesity, physical inactivity, poor eating, and drinking (Blach et al., 2022). A complicated interplay of societal forces might account for it: psychological elements and ease of access to healthcare.
Strategies to Address the Gap
The risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), generally, and myocardial heart disease in particular, is significantly influenced by daily routines and activities. It has been demonstrated that quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, engaging in regular physical exercise, and eating a balanced diet greatly lower the risk of cardiovascular disease (Judge et al., 2023). These lifestyle practices were associated with a greater than 80% and 90% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, respectively, according to two extensive cohort studies (Judge et al., 2023). “Lifestyle medicine” refers to the body of research on how lifestyle variables affect the risk of cardiovascular disease (Judge et al., 2023). Fewer people follow this behavior despite the mounting proof that lifestyle variables impact cardiovascular disease.
Despite the abundant data supporting healthy lifestyle interventions, it is challenging to assist people in integrating these behaviors into their everyday lives. Although there are still significant obstacles to overcome, improvements in lifestyle variables have been identified as a primary cause of the drop in cardiovascular disease during the past 20 years (Jain et al., 2022). While improvements in lifestyle risk factors, such as quitting smoking, increasing physical activity, and improving blood pressure and cholesterol management, accounted for about half of the drop in cardiovascular disease between 1980 and 2000, there was also a rise in obesity (Jain et al., 2022). It is crucial to remember this. Conversely, diabetes is trending in the other way and, if these unfavorable tendencies are not reversed, might halt the advancement of other risk factors connected to lifestyle.
Conclusion
Findings from a study on cardiovascular illness in Arkansas’s African American community. Black individuals are more likely than those of other races or ethnicities to suffer from heart disease and stroke. Compared to white Arkansans, black Arkansans experience more excellent rates of disease and mortality. In addition, they have higher rates of diabetes and cardiovascular illness than White people. They also have higher rates of heart attacks, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and other diseases that cause death. Several factors, including age, race, family income, and absence of health insurance, among other social determinants of health, influence the general health condition of rural inhabitants in Arkansas. The safety and quality of medical care differ significantly. Cardiovascular illness is less common among rural Arkansas communities than in urban ones, primarily due to social determinants of health.
References
Barnes, J. W., Massing, M., Dugyala, S., Cottoms, N., & Pursell, I. W. (2022). Design of a Novel Intervention Model to Address Cardiovascular Health Disparities in the Rural Underserved Community of Phillips County, Arkansas. Health equity, 6(1), 248–253. https://doi.org/10.1089/heq.2021.0175
Blach, A., Pangle, A., Azhar, G., & Wei, J. (2022). Disparity and Multimorbidity in Heart Failure Patients Over the Age of 80. Gerontology & geriatric medicine, 8, 23337214221098901. https://doi.org/10.1177/23337214221098901
Jain, V., Minhas, A. M. K., Morris, A. A., Greene, S. J., Pandey, A., Khan, S. S., Fonarow, G. C., Mentz, R. J., Butler, J., & Khan, M. S. (2022). Demographic and Regional Trends of Heart Failure-Related Mortality in Young Adults in the U.S., 1999-2019. JAMA cardiology, 7(9), 900–904. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamacardio.2022.2213
Judge, A. S., Downing, K. F., Nembhard, W. N., Oster, M. E., & Farr, S. L. (2023). Racial and ethnic disparities in socio-economic status, access to care, and healthcare utilization among children with heart conditions, National Survey of Children’s Health 2016-2019. Cardiology in the young, 33(12), 2539–2547. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047951122004097
Lopez-Neyman, S. M., Davis, K., Zohoori, N., Broughton, K. S., Moore, C. E., & Miketinas, D. (2022). Racial disparities and prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors, cardiometabolic risk factors, and cardiovascular health metrics among U.S. adults: NHANES 2011-2018. Scientific reports, 12(1), 19475. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21878-x
Williams, T. B., Crump, A., Garza, M. Y., Parker, N., Simmons, S., Lipschitz, R., & Sexton, K. W. (2023). Care delivery team composition effect on hospitalization risk in African Americans with congestive heart failure. PloS one, 18(6), e0286363. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286363
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