Health Inequity and Racial Disparities in Heart Disease

In the United States, Black people are thirty percent more likely to die from heart disease than white people. This article discusses the reasons for these disparities, including social and structural inequities.

Heart disease is also more common in Black patients, Latinx patients and in patients of South Asian descent. The reason for the increased prevalence of heart disease in these populations is a combination of genetic, environmental and social factors.

SOURCE: UChicago Medicine • AUTHOR: Bryan Smith, MD • LAST UPDATED: February 25, 2021