Dr. Deborah CrabbeCrabbe, a cardiologist at Temple University Hospital, says there are a variety of reasons for the high rates of heart disease among Black people, but there’s one thing that stands out most.High blood pressure is often linked to obesity, but there are a variety of causes. African Americans are twice as likely to have hypertension than whites and it’s often a silent killer because there are usually no symptoms.
“So as a physician, it’s difficult to convince people who feel OK to take a medication. And then if you’re African American, the average African American needs three or four medicines to control their blood pressure. So try to convince somebody who feels perfectly fine to take three or four medicines,” Crabbe said.
Crabbe says most heart diseases can be either prevented or controlled. The first step is knowing your numbers — blood pressure and cholesterol. “There is 10% or 15% of the population who is walking around never had their blood pressure checked. You gotta know you have hypertension before you can even treat it,” Crabbe said.“I helped him as much as I could, and I got him on meds and I got him treated and this and that,” Crabbe said, “but you know, he was afraid of some of the other things that needed to be done.”
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