[Phillips:] Well, important health heart health news, especially for African-Americans. A new study now saying that blacks are 20 times more likely than whites to develop heart failure. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here. Pretty shocking numbers. But doctors not necessarily surprised. I mean, we've talked about this before among certain ethnicities.
[Elizabeth Cohen, Cnn Senior Medical Correspondent:] Absolutely. They knew that the numbers were possibly in this neighborhood, but I think just the hugeness of it did surprise some people. This is an incredible study. Doctors followed black patients and white patients over a 25-year period. That's a long time. And let's take a look at what they found. They found that a 35- year-old black person has about the on average, has about the rate of heart failures that a 55-year-old white person would have. So, in other words, your chances of getting heart failure when you're 35 if you're black are about the same as if you're 55 if you're white. And Kyra, they think the main reason for that, or one of the main reasons, is that black people tend to have high blood pressure more than white people. The rate is three times higher among black people. And it's the high blood pressure that then can lead to heart failure.
[Phillips:] OK, so why do so many African-Americans have high blood pressure?
[Cohen:] They are not sure about that. There's probably a variety of reasons, including genetic reasons. But one reason that the author of this study really emphasized with us is that many times when black people have high blood pressure, it starts in their 20s. So, they're seeing 20-year-olds, people in their 20s who are African-American, with high blood pressure. When those folks show up at the doctor, the doctors aren't necessarily being very aggressive about treating them. Because you know, a 25-year-old, high blood pressure, maybe it will go away. They're much more aggressive when people are older. So, part of the moral of the story is, when a young person has high blood pressure, you've got to be aggressive about it.
[Phillips:] Yes. Attack it right then.
[Cohen:] Right.
[Phillips:] Thanks, Elizabeth.
[Cohen:] Thanks.
[Phillips:] Well, volcanic eruptions, rivers overflowing their banks and tornadoes possible. Severe weather guru Chad Myers hard at work monitoring the danger zones for us.