The American journal of the medical sciences
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Cardiovascular mortality has continued to decline, but racial disparities in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) continue to grow. To build the capacity to address these racial disparities, two things will be required. First, a research and policy infrastructure must be in place to provide guidance on what to do and how to do it. ⋯ The Jackson Heart Study is an example of a research infrastructure with the economic resources, scientific expertise, and technical manpower required to monitor, organize, assess, and follow a cohort of individuals over time to study the burden, natural history, predictive factors, and level of care for CVD in an African American community. The creation of will within the community for CVD research may require additional strategies than in the majority community, such as community organization and local policy development. These additional efforts at the community level should create a fertile environment to develop research and, ultimately, test strategies for reducing national disparities in cardiovascular health.
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The increased prevalence of obesity among African-American women makes it likely that they bear a disproportionate burden of comorbidities attributable to obesity, such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipemia. These observations suggest that intensive efforts to prevent obesity should be directed at this group. ⋯ In addition, data collected by the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide additional information about attitudes toward diet and physical activity among African American youth. Such data are essential to understand the attitudinal changes necessary to prevent obesity in these vulnerable populations.
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Review
Bogalusa Heart Study: a long-term community study of a rural biracial (black/white) population.
The Bogalusa Heart Study, a long-term population study with a continued relationship with a community, addresses the problem of capacity building in minority health research. The study was originally funded as a Specialized Center of Research-Arteriosclerosis (SCOR-A) by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). These centers were to conduct research on atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and complications of cardiovascular-renal disease as the major causes of deaths in the United States. ⋯ This background stimulated an interest in studying children for early clinical evidence of major adult heart diseases. The Bogalusa Heart Study was begun in 1972 as an epidemiology study of cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents; it eventually evolved into observations of young adults. Bogalusa, LA, is a biracial (black/white) rural community 70 miles north of New Orleans, comparable to many other communities in southeastern United States.
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Cardiovascular mortality has continued to decline, but racial disparities in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) continue to grow. To build the capacity to address these racial disparities, two things will be required. First, a research and policy infrastructure must be in place to provide guidance on what to do and how to do it. ⋯ The Jackson Heart Study is an example of a research infrastructure with the economic resources, scientific expertise, and technical manpower required to monitor, organize, assess, and follow a cohort of individuals over time to study the burden, natural history, predictive factors, and level of care for CVD in an African American community. The creation of will within the community for CVD research may require additional strategies than in the majority community, such as community organization and local policy development. These additional efforts at the community level should create a fertile environment to develop research and, ultimately, test strategies for reducing national disparities in cardiovascular health.