DALLAS — More people are dying from heart disease than ever before, and obesity appears to be the main reason. Researchers working with the American Heart Association have found that deaths from obesity-related heart disease have tripled between 1999 and 2020. Black Americans account for the majority of deaths compared to other groups racial, especially black women.
“The number of people with obesity is increasing in every country in the world. Our study is the first to show that this growing burden of obesity translates into an increase deaths from heart disease” says lead study author and cardiologist Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, MD, a clinical professor at the William Harvey Research Institute in London, in an institutional report. media release. “This growing obesity trend is affecting some populations more than others, especially black women.”
Adult obesity has remained an epidemic for the past two decades. According to the CDC, more than 40 percent of Americans classify today as obese — a 10 percent jump over the past decade.
The new figures come from researchers looking for data on factors that could contribute to obesity-related heart disease deaths. These range from differences in race, gender and area of residence. They also analyzed data on 281,135 deaths in the past two decades where obesity was a contributing factor. among the dead 43.6% were women.
The main finding of the study was to expose the number of deaths from obesity-related cardiovascular disease that tripled from 2.2 per 100,000 population to 6.6 per 100,000 population between 1999 and 2020. Black individuals had the highest number of deaths than other racial and ethnic groups at 6.7 per 100,000 population. 100,000 inhabitants. That is, 19.8 percent black adults offset the death toll. Native Americans and Alaska Native adults made up the second and third highest groups, respectively.
Black women were hit hardest by obesity-related heart disease deaths. This was in stark contrast to what the researchers found for other racial groups. In all other races and ethnicities, men were more likely to die of obesity-related heart disease than women.
“The trend of higher obesity-related cardiovascular death rates among black women than men was striking and different from all other racial groups considered in our study,” says lead author Mamas A. Mamas, MD, D.Phil. professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Keele University in the United Kingdom.
Black adults living in cities showed higher rates of obesity-related heart disease deaths than black adults live in rural villages. However, the opposite was true for all other races. Apart from black adults, rural residents showed higher death rates than urban dwellers.
According to Raisi-Estabaugh, one reason behind the high death toll among black urban renters is that they are more likely to live in low socioeconomic areas. Unlike other urban residents, blacks do not appear to benefit from increased access to health care and are more likely to face health disparities.
The findings are published in Journal of the American Heart Association.
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