The Epidemiology of Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke in African-American Elders.
To assess the magnitude of the problem of heart disease and stroke in African-American elders, data were reviewed from several national surveys conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. With the exception of persons aged 75 and over, blacks had higher death rates than whites. Since 1979, heart disease death rates have continued the long term decline in each age, sex, and race group; however, stroke death rates have nearly ceased declining after 1992. In 1990 through 1992 there were probably over 2 million black persons with self-reported heart disease and 400,000 with self-reported stroke in the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the U.S. In 1993, 354,000 black persons were discharged from short stay hospitals with a principal diagnosis of heart disease and 97,000 with stroke. Vigorous efforts are needed toward primary prevention of heart disease and stroke to reduce the burden of illness.
Gillum
Richard F.
RF
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, MD.