• Gender and genes make a difference. Males are more likely to have coronary heart disease than females, whether younger or older.
• A smoker's risk of heart attack is more than twice that of a nonsmoker, and a smoker's risk of stroke is two to four times that of a nonsmoker.
• High cholesterol levels bring increased risk. As LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) levels increase, CVD risk increases. When other risk factors are present, risk increases even more. A person's cholesterol levels are also affected by age, sex, heredity, and diet.
• Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood in your arteries. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood away from your heart and throughout your body. High blood pressure increases the heart's workload and can lead to increased arterial damage, opening the door further for more build-up of fatty substances on the arterial walls. This causes the artery walls to narrow and lose flexibility. This in turn causes an increase in blood pressure.
• High blood pressure is also the biggest risk factor for stroke. When high blood pressure exists with obesity, smoking, high blood cholesterol levels, or diabetes, the risk of heart attack or stroke increases several times.
• Obesity, a lack of physical activity, and diabetes are closely linked risk factors. Those who are overweight are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke even if they have no other risk factors.
• Stress is also a contributing factor. Research indicates that there is a relationship between the risk of developing coronary heart disease and stress.
• Nearly 5 of every 10 non-Hispanic Black adults have CVD.* This includes diseases of the heart, stroke, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, congenital cardiovascular defects, hardening of the arteries and other diseases of the circulatory system.
• Nearly 45 percent of Black adults in the United States have high blood pressure (HBP), one of the highest rates in the world. Compared with whites, Blacks are more likely to have HBP, to be overweight or obese, and to have diabetes. All these factors raise their CVD risk.
• The age-adjusted 2004 death rate from coronary heart disease (CHD), which includes heart attack, was over 23 percent higher among Black adults than for the total adult population in the United States.

Note: U.S. government agencies and population surveys use the terms "Blacks" and "non-Hispanic Blacks."
*2003 Data. Estimates are age-adjusted to remove the effect of differences in the age distribution of population groups.
55-1042 12/06

Sources
CDC/NCHS.
2002-06, American Heart Association.