SES bigger risk factor for CVD…

... than race and ethnicity

A new UCLA study published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology has suggested that socioeconomic status has more of an impact than race or ethnicity for disparities in cardiovascular disease risk in the United States. Researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine found that there are great differences in risk by socioeconomic status within racial and ethnic groups, with the poorest individuals having the highest risk. Additionally, there are few differences in risk between racial and ethnic groups.

‘Most ethnic differences in cardiovascular risk are really due to socioeconomic differences between the races in the US – except for one outstanding exception,’ said lead researcher Dr Arun Karlamangla, an associate professor of medicine in the division of geriatrics at the Geffen School of Medicine. ‘Foreign-born Mexican Americans, as opposed to Mexican Americans born here, are healthier than everyone else, and this may have less to do with ethnicity or genes than with migration patterns.’

This may have implications for how prevention is approached and what risk factors need addressing.

Source: Medical News Today, 3 August 2010.

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