title: A Comparison of Black and White Racial Differences in Health Lifestyles and Cardiovascular Disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study examines the health lifestyles of a cohort of blacks and whites in relation to cardiovascular disease (CVD). The link between health lifestyles and CVD is well established, but most of the focus has been on SES and more research is needed on racial differences.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study of black (n=2,451) and white (n=2,351) men and women. Data were analyzed from baseline examinations in 1985-1986 when the participants were aged 18-30 years and any fatal or nonfatal CVD event that occurred over approximately the next 28 years (until August 2013). The first stage of the analysis used latent class models to identify distinct health lifestyles on the basis of race. The second stage used multinomial logit regression models to analyze specific characteristics in relation to the health lifestyles classes, followed by the third stage in which Cox proportional hazards models analyzed associations of the lifestyle classes with CVD risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four separate health lifestyle patterns for blacks and four for whites were identified, with the "unhealthy" lifestyle among blacks (hazard ratio, 1.60) and "most unhealthy" lifestyle among whites (hazard ratio, 3.12) showing an elevated risk of CVD. An important difference is that, in every lifestyle class, blacks showed a higher probability of excessive energy intake than whites-indicative of the potential for obesity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health lifestyles differ by race and support the exploratory hypothesis that distinct classes of healthy-unhealthy lifestyles exist within each racial group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. Electronic address: wcocker@uab.edu.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Cockerham
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Shawn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bauldry
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Bryant W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Hamby
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Shikany
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Sejong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bae
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D000073599:Health Risk Behaviors; D000070497:Healthy Lifestyle; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult