Heart Disease and American Indians/Alaska Natives

American Indians/Alaska Natives, on average, are more likely to be diagnosed with heart disease than their white counterparts. In addition, American Indians/Alaska Native adults are more likely to be obese than white adults, more likely to have high blood pressure, and they are more likely to be current cigarette smokers than white adults - all risk factors for heart disease

American Indian/Alaska Native adults are 1.4 times as likely as White adults to be current cigarette smokers.
American Indian/Alaska Native adults are twice as likely as White adults to be diagnosed with heart disease.
American Indian/Alaska Native adults are 1.3 times as likely as White adults to have high blood pressure.

At a glance – Diagnosed Cases of Heart Disease:

**Age-adjusted percentages of heart disease among persons 18 years of age and over, 2004-2008**
	American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men and Women	14.7	12.2	1.2
Men	15.5	13.5	1.1
Women	15.0	11.3	1.3

Source: CDC 2010. Health Characteristics of the American Indian and Alaska Native Adult Population: United States, 2004-2008. Table 4.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr020.pdf [PDF | 304KB]

At a glance – Diagnosed Cases of Coronary Heart Disease:

**Age-adjusted percentages of coronary heart disease among persons 18 years of age and over, 2010**
American Indian/ Alaska Native (2 or more races)	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
14.5	6.6	2.2

Source: CDC 2011. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2010. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 1.6MB]

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Age-Adjusted Heart Disease Death Rates per 100,000 (2009)**
	American Indians/Alaska Natives	Non-Hispanic White	American Indians/Alaska Natives/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Men	154.2	231.1	0.7
Women	96.6	142.1	0.7
Total	123.1	180.9	0.7

Source: CDC 2012. National Vital Statistics Report. Vol. 60, Num 3 Tables 16 and 17.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf [PDF | 2MB]

At a Glance – Risk Factors:

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

Obesity and Overweight – See Obesity and American Indians/Native Americans

Hypertension

NHANES data is not available.

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have high blood pressure, 2004-2008.**
	American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men and Women	34.5	25.7	1.3
Men	38.7	26.7	1.4
Women	30.2	24.7	1.2

Source: CDC 2010. Health Characteristics of the American Indian and Alaska Native Adult Population: United States, 2004-2008. Table 4.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr020.pdf [PDF | 304KB]

Percent of adults age 18 and over with hypertension whose blood pressure is under control
Not available at this time.

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have high blood pressure, 2010. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)**
American Indian/ Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
30.0	23.9	1.3

Source: CDC 2011. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2010. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 1.6MB]

High Cholesterol

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 20 years of age and over who have high cholesterol
Not available at this time.

**Adults who received a blood cholesterol measurement in the last 5 years, 2008**
American Indian/ Alaska Natives	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
66.5	74.1	0.9

Source: 2011 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 2_1_3.2a and 2b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr11/index.html

BRFSS

**Age-adjusted percent of adults told by a health-care provider that they had high blood cholesterol, 2003**
American Indian/ Alaska Natives	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
31.2	31.5	1.0

Source: CDC 2005. Trends in Cholesterol Screening and Awareness of High Blood Cholesterol – United States, 1991-2003. MMWR 54(35): 865-870, Table 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5435.pdf [PDF | 631KB]

Cigarette Smoking

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who are current cigarette smokers, 2004-2008.**
	American Indian/Alaska Native	White	American Indian/Alaska Native/White Ratio
Men and Women	32.7	22.5	1.4
Men	38.6	24.1	1.5
Women	27.6	21.0	1.3

Source: CDC 2010. Health Characteristics of the American Indian and Alaska Native Adult Population: United States, 2004-2008. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr020.pdf [PDF | 304KB]

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who are current cigarette smokers, 2010**
American Indian/ Alaska Natives (2 or more races)	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
27.4	21.7	1.3

Source: CDC 2010. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults 2010. Table 25.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 1.6MB]

**Age-Adjusted Percent of persons 18+ who currently smoke, 2008 - 2010**
	American Indian/Alaska Natives (2 or more races)	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Natives /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	25.1	23.9	1.1
Women	21.0	20.9	1.0

Source: CDC 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 62.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

Percentage of current smokers age 18 and over with a checkup who reported receiving advice to quit smoking
Not available at this time.

At a Glance – Treatment:

Aspirin Therapy

Percent of heart attack patients administered aspirin within 24 hours of admission, 2006*
American Indians/ Alaska Natives	White	American Indians/Alaska Natives/White Ratio
95.3	96.6	1.0

Source: 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 4_2_2.1
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08/4_heartdiseases/T4_2_2-1.htm

Beta Blockers

Percent of heart attack patients administered beta blocker within 24 hours of admission, 2006*
American Indians/ Alaska Natives	White	American Indians/Alaska Natives/White Ratio
92.6	93.4	1.0

Source: 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 4_2_4.1
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08/4_heartdiseases/T4_2_4-1.htm

**Hospital patients with heart attack who were prescribed ACE inhibitor or ARB at discharge, United States, 2009**
American Indians/ Alaska Natives	White	American Indians/Alaska Natives/White Ratio
91.8	93.1	1.0

Source: 2011 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 2_3_3.1
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr11/index.html

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Content Last Modified: 8/29/2012 9:14:00 AM

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