In comparison to white Americans, black people born in the United States have a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases.

According to preliminary research, Black adults born in the United States had a higher rate of death from cardiovascular diseases and all causes than Black adults born in other countries.

In comparison to white Americans, black adults in the United States have a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular disorders. However, the risk of mortality from stroke and other types of cardiovascular disease, as well as death from all causes, may differ between Black individuals born in the United States and those born elsewhere. The researchers point out that theirs is one of the first large-scale, population-based epidemiological studies to look at the effects of migration and assimilation on death rates among Black people.

“Previous studies have found that, despite poor socioeconomic position and limited access to health care, immigrants around the world are generally healthier than the host population [in the country to which they have moved], a benefit that tends to fade the longer they stay in the host country.

“How region of origin and acculturation affect death from cardiovascular disease, stroke and all causes among Black immigrants remains largely unknown and may provide valuable information for studies on stroke prevention and outcomes for the public, health care professionals and health care stakeholders,” says study author Alain Lekoubou Looti.

According to Pew Research Center figures, 10% of the Black population in the United States was born elsewhere in 2019, up 3% from 2000, when roughly 7% of the Black population in the United States was born elsewhere.

To find out if there was a link between stroke risk and a person’s birthplace, researchers looked at data from the CDC’s National Health Interview Service (2000-2014) on more than 64,700 Black Americans aged 25 to 74. Researchers analyzed overall death rates, as well as death rates specifically owing to stroke and cardiovascular illnesses, among Black individuals born in the United States and Black adults born in the Caribbean, South and Central America, and Africa among those who reported surviving a stroke. The researchers looked at the impact of time since migration on these characteristics as well.

According to the findings of the investigation:

• Of those studied, 2,549 had a self-reported history of a stroke.
• There were 4,329 deaths (including 205 attributed to a stroke and 932 deaths from cardiovascular disease) recorded during the study period.
• Compared to U.S.-born Black adults, African-born Black adults who reported having had a stroke had 50% lower death from all causes and trended toward having lower cardiovascular death rates.
• At the 10-year follow-up, the incidence of death for U.S.-born Black adults from all causes was 12.6%; 2.76% from cardiovascular disease; and 0.6% from stroke. Among Black adults who were born in the Caribbean, South and Central America, the incidence of death from all causes was about 6.1%; 1.6% from cardiovascular disease; and 0.45% from stroke. For Black adults born in Africa, the incidence of death from all causes was 3.15%; 0.54% from cardiovascular disease; and 0.08% from stroke.
• Compared to U.S.-born Black adults, the rates of death among Black individuals born in the Caribbean, South and Central America from all causes were 54% lower and 40% lower from cardiovascular disease, respectively, however, rates of death from stroke were similar.
• Time since migration did not significantly affect death rates among Black adults born outside the U.S.

“Our finding that Black individuals who immigrated to the U.S. earlier (less than five years ago) and later (15 years ago and more) died at a lower rate than U.S.-born Black individuals was surprising, and our analysis could not explain this difference. One potential explanation is the persistent ‘carryover’ effects from their country of birth, although this benefit fades with time,” Lekoubou Looti added.

A potential study limitation is that stroke was self-reported by the study participants.

Image Credit: Getty

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