The Heart Disease Gap Is Widening
The richest 20% of Americans are ‘pulling away’ on health from the poorest 80%
A new study published today in the journal JAMA Network Open reveals startling and widening disparities in cardiovascular disease prevalence among the richest and poorest Americans. Overall, the burden of heart disease is much lower among the richest 20% of Americans compared to the poorest 80%, and this gap has swelled since 1999.
The study authors analyzed data from nine cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which included over 44,900 people. They found that the prevalence of congestive heart failure in the richest 20% of Americans is less than a third of the prevalence among the poorest 80%, and that the prevalence of stroke among the richest 20% of Americans is less than half of the prevalence among the poorest 80%.
“These two conditions are important because they are associated with high out-of-pocket and health care expenditure, which adds to the disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease in the U.S.,” says lead study author Salma M. Abdalla, MD, MPH, a research fellow at Boston University School of Public Health.
Abdalla and her research team also found that these disease disparities are growing. For example, the prevalence of angina — a type…
