A new study finds that African-American women can be at risk of heart disease even if they do not have metabolic syndrome.
The findings suggest a big problem, since current medical theories affirm that metabolic syndrome, characterized by bad cholesterol, excess fat in the abdominal area, high blood pressure, high triglycerides and the inability to metabolize glucose properly are the risk factors that lead to strokes and heart attacks.
Journal of the American Heart Association discovered that having two metabolic abnormalities already raised heart disease risk in African-American women. Being overweight or obese with two or three metabolic factors almost doubled their heart disease risk.
The study participated by 14,364 postmenopausal women and Women's Health Initiative tracked their health for 13 years. According to Northeast Indiana Public Radio, Hispanic women were included, but there weren't enough of them to come to any firm conclusions.
Women were categorized by weight as normal, overweight, or obese. Study also categorized women using metabolic health status: first is the presence of metabolic syndrome (metabolically unhealthy with less than 3 metabolic abnormalities) and, second is the number of metabolic abnormalities.
"The metabolic health concept has has only been investigated in the white population. We found that it cannot be directly applied to black individuals,” said lead researcher Dr. Michelle Schmiegelow of Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte in Denmark.
Dr. Robert Eckel, a University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine professor, said that there are a lot of things to know about women and heart disease. He added that culture, race, environment and genetics are factors that can lead to heart disease. Also, it can affect the health of cultures and races around the globe.
In addition, Eckel suggested that customized approach to health is needed to address the health issue properly.
Past studies involving white female have also found obesity without a clustering of at least three metabolic disorders to be unrelated to increased cardiovascular disease risk, accordinto Med Page Today.
Physical inactivity, smoking and high blood pressure are also contributing factors to the heart disease risk in Black women. As compared to women of other races, African-American women are also more likely to die at an early age.