Heart Disease In Black Men: It’s a Family Affair

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1858 – 1931), an African American man, performed the first successful open-heart surgery. While most folks don’t expect you to commit this Black History Month fact to memory, it’s critical that men, particularly Black men know their risk for heart disease. They must also be able to share their family's heart-health history with their doctors or health care providers.

Heart disease is serious. It’s the #1 killer or men (and women) in the United States. And, it tends to run in families. Every year about 785,000 Americans have a first heart attack, and another 470,000 who have already had one or more heart attacks have another attack. According to the Office of Minority Health, African American men are 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease, as compared to non-Hispanic, White men. Heart disease risk is also higher among Mexican Americans, American Indians, native Hawaiians and some Asian American men and women, too.

As we celebrate Black History Month and American Heart Month this February, let’s also take some time to learn how to lower our risk for heart disease and reach out to family members who may be able to offer insight into our own family's health story.

Knowing your family’s medical history will allow you to alert your doctor if high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes and/or heart disease runs in your family, so that your health care provider can keep an eye on your health status and run the necessary tests to keep you healthy. While there are some risk factors of heart disease that you just can’t control like age (people over age 65 are at increased risk), gender (men have a greater risk of heart disease than women) and heredity (children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop it themselves), you can take some actions to help prevent heart disease.

What can you do? It’s very important that you manage your lifestyle-related risk factors by doing the following:

• Stop smoking
• Manage weight
• Eat Healthy
• Get moving
• Reduce stress
• Know the heart disease risk factors
• Limit alcohol use (Note: A glass of red wine daily has some health benefits but getting drunk daily is not good for your heart or your liver.)

The lifestyle choices you make or don't make daily can put you at a higher risk for heart disease, as well as a host of other diseases, including cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, just to name a few. African Americans have more severe high blood pressure than White men and women and a higher risk of developing diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease, as a result. Yes, heart disease can be complicated because diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol all play a major role in increasing your risk for developing cardiovascular disease. It's all the more reason to take good care of your health and prevent and/or manage these chronic diseases, if you've been diagnosed with them already. 

So, call grandma, your nosy uncle or anyone else who you think might know more about your family’s health history than you do and ask plenty of questions. This information may save your life one day. Here's how you can get started today:

Visit the My Family Health Portrait Web site. You’re able to build an interactive family health tree that goes back as far as two generations. This tool can help you trace your family's medical history, as well as inform you about health conditions and diseases that may affect your own health and that of loved ones. In addition, as you identify some of the medical problems your relatives may have faced, you’re able to learn more about the diseases and conditions; including potential causes and the role that heredity may play in their development. You’re also given prevention suggestions and early detection is stressed. The Web site allows you to print your family health tree, customized for your doctor, your family or for your own personal use.