Title: 5 Diseases More Common in Minorities - ABC News
Headings: 5 Diseases More Common in Minorities
5 Diseases More Common in Minorities
Content: Whites and Hispanics showed the biggest decreases in that time. Asians also saw a decline. Cardiovascular disease rose slightly in the black and Native American populations. Despite the downward trend among Hispanics, heart disease is the leading cause of death among minorities in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to suffer from obesity and hypertension, two of the major risk factors for heart disease. One of the main reasons, experts say, is because people of color often live in areas where there isn't a lot of access to quality health care or to better lifestyle choices. "Areas of high racial segregation are areas of high concentrations of poverty and the absence of access to good schools, the absence of access to high-quality medical care, exposure to high levels of messages about tobacco and alcohol and low access to green spaces and areas to exercise," Williams said. They also might not have many affordable healthy food options, he said. Carrasquillo added that studies have shown that African-Americans are much less likely to get invasive cardiac screening procedures, such as angiograms. "Doctors are less likely to recommend screening to blacks than to whites when all things are equal," he said. "