Health disparities in cardiometabolic diseases within racial subgroups

Health disparities in the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases exist across racial and ethnic subgroups, according to a study published in the January 25 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Alain K. Koyama, Ph.D., of the CDC in Atlanta and colleagues used data from 3,970,904 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System respondents from 2013 to 2021 to estimate the number of diagnosed cardiometabolic diseases among U.S. adults. Prevalence is described by racial and ethnic subgroups. The prevalence of diabetes, myocardial infarction, angina or coronary heart disease, and stroke was stratified by race and ethnicity.

The average age of respondents was 47.5 years, and more than half (51.4 percent) of respondents were women. Researchers found considerable variation in the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases among disaggregated racial and ethnic subgroups. Within the aggregated non-Hispanic Asian category, diabetes prevalence was 11.5 percent and ranged from 6.3 to 15.2 percent in the Vietnamese and Filipino subgroups, respectively. When the Hispanic or Latino categories were aggregated, the prevalence of angina or coronary heart disease was 3.8% and 3.1 to 6.3% in the Cuban and Puerto Rican subgroups, respectively.

“The results of this study demonstrate significant differences in the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases among racial and ethnic subgroups, with the greatest variation found in the prevalence of diabetes,” the authors wrote. writing.