A number of researches indicate that African Americans are affected from heart diseases than other communities of the United States. Thorough research and experiences suggest that the situation is alarming, and there is a need to take appropriate measures to curb cardiovascular problems among African Americans. A variety of factors can be held responsible for growing heart related problems among African Americans that are associated with their culture and life style. This paper discusses how African-American culture relates with growing heart problems among African Americans, and further discusses influence of culture on African American feelings, attitude and behavior related with heart problems.
The term, “African American” is used for people who were brought into America from Africa by English. They were brought as slaves and did not voluntarily come into United States. However African Americans have adopted the American culture but they also have maintained uniqueness of their culture and lifestyle. Culture plays significant role in ascertaining health conditions. Usually African Americans have larger body size. They are hardworking people and also consume more food than others. Obesity has become an integral part of their identity. A majority of African American population suffers from obesity which causes several other diseases.
Culture plays a significant role in heart related problems of African Americans. Culture ascertains lifestyle and practices that people follow. African Americans are enthusiastic followers of religious practices. They do believe in god and his compassion than believing in performing in real life. Their lifestyle is relaxed and they believe in god much than doctors. African Americans believe that whatever is happening is the will of god and such thinking leads them to an irregular and unhealthy lifestyle. Their behavior is influenced by culture, and the same is reflected in lifestyle and behavior of African Americans.
Eating behavior of African Americans has become a matter of concern. They do not tend to control their eating behavior and consume a lot of junk food. Their diet is full of fat, protein and carbohydrate that does not make them obese only, but it also makes them heart patients. Heavy diet is not the sole problem, but lack of physical activities after consuming a lot of food worsens the problem further. They do not want to do physical work anymore and desire everything at their doorstep. African Americans tend to watch too much television and have stopped or reduced participating in sports activities (James, 2004).
Heredity is another factor that causes cardiovascular diseases among African Americans. African Americans face this health menace because their ancestors faced the same problem. It has been observed that a substantial number of African American heart patients faced the problem because of heredity. They have inherited cardiovascular diseases from their ancestors and the same is transferred to their next generations. Along with heredity, Hypertension is one more factor that causes cardiovascular diseases among African Americans.
Din-Dzietham et al. (2004) in their article say that African Americans face a variety of difficulties in their daily, personal and professional life due to their different culture which causes Hypertension and blood pressure among them. Blood pressure and hypertension are believed to be contributing in cardiovascular diseases. African Americans still face a variety of discriminatory practices in the American society that affect their personal and professional life. They face various professional, financial and social problems that affect their performance (Din-Dzietham et al., 2004).
Such difficulties and discriminatory practices also affect their physical and mental health and finally affect cardiovascular health of African Americans. Institutionalized racial discrimination has only worsened the problem of African Americans. It has been observed that African Americans are not provided the appropriate health services and they are also not referred to experts for advanced health services. African Americans do not get access to experts and advanced services and treatments which further affect their cardiovascular health problems (Din-Dzietham et al., 2004).
Peters, Aroian and Flack (2006) in their research study analyze the association between African-American culture and hypertension problem. The authors conducted a primary survey on 34 individuals and five focus groups. According to the authors, culture related behavior get transferred from one generation to another, which creates a circle. Culture related behavior formed attitude of people towards certain things. Culture related behavior control eating habits and other life style attitude of people. African-American culture also controls belief of people towards different types of medications and therapies available to treat hypertension and heart diseases (Peters, Aroian, and Flack, 2006).
Dressler, Bindon, and Neggers (1998) in their study examined how African American culture relates with heart disease risk factors. According to the authors, culture influence three major factors of people’s lives i.e. education, income, and their occupation. These three factors develop positive or negative feelings towards unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking. African American people further form positive attitude towards smoking and drinking behavior that generally prevails in their culture. African American culture promotes smoking and drinking behavior which increases chances of heart diseases (Dressler, Bindon, & Neggers, 1998).
According to American Heart Association, heart disease is major killer of African American people. African American culture makes people more sensitive toward salt. African Americans consume significant amount of salty food which increased the chances of high blood pressure. According to AHA, African American culture also promotes eating behavior and lifestyle that increase weight of black people. For example, excessive consumption of red meat, pasta and rice. Around 63 % non-Hispanic men and 77 % non-Hispanic women age 20 and above are either over-weight or obese (American Heart Association, 2015).
Bibbins-Domingo et al. (2009) in their study identified that the rate of heart failure is much higher among African Americans as compare to other race. Heart failure rate among African-Americans is twenty times higher as compare to white Americans, and high blood pressure, overweight, cholesterol, and kidney disease are major reasons behind heart failure (Bibbins-Domingo et al., 2009). African American culture not only develop poor eating behavior among people but also form negative attitude towards different types of therapies and medication available to treat heart disease. Wyatt et al. (2003) mention that discrimination faced by African-Americans increase their stress and also form their negative attitude towards healthcare services. Discrimination also encourage poor lifestyle and eating habits among black people which impacts occurrence of heart diseases (Wyatt et al., 2003).
This paper concludes that African Americans are adversely affected from heart problems. There are a variety of cultural and behavioral problems that affect them and they become heart patients. Factors including eating behavior, lack of physical exercise, tension, blood pressure contribute in cardiovascular disease and African Americans are worst affected by all these factors. These factors affect American population, but African Americans are worst affected and they are suffering more in comparison to other communities.
References
African-Americans and Heart Disease, Stroke. (2015, Sep. 16). Retrieved from American Heart Association: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/MyHeartandStrokeNews/African-Americans-and-Heart-Disease_UCM_444863_Article.jsp#.Vs3-1Oao3VI
Bibbins-Domingo, K., Pletcher, M. J., Lin, F., Vittinghoff, E., Gardin, J. M., Arynchyn, A., & Hulley, S. B. (2009). Racial differences in incident heart failure among young adults. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(12), 1179-1190.
Din-Dzietham, R., Nembhard, W. N., Collins, R., & Davis, S. K. (2004). Perceived stress following race-based discrimination at work is associated with hypertension in African–Americans, The metro Atlanta heart disease study, 1999–2001. Social science & medicine, 58(3), 449-461.
Dressler, W. W., Bindon, J. R., & Neggers, Y. H. (1998). Culture, socioeconomic status, and coronary heart disease risk factors in an African American community. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 21(6), 527-544.
James, D. (2004). Factors influencing food choices, dietary intake, and nutrition-related attitudes among African Americans: application of a culturally sensitive model. Ethnicity and Health, 9(4), 349-367.
Peters, R.M., Aroian, K.J., and Flack, J.M. . (2006). African American Culture and Hypertension Prevention. West J Nurs Res, 28(7), 831-854.
Wyatt, S. B., Williams, D. R., Calvin, R., Henderson, F. C., Walker, E. R., & Winters, K. (2003). Racism and cardiovascular disease in African Americans. The American journal of the medical sciences, 325(6), 315-331.
