Coronary heart disease and lipid-modifying treatment in African American patients

African Americans have the highest overall coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality rate of any ethnic group in the United States. They also exhibit a greater prevalence of a number of individual CHD risk factors, especially hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus (a CHD risk equivalent) and greater clustering of risk factors. The African-American population is under-represented in lipid-lowering clinical end point trials and remains inadequately treated with lipid-lowering therapy in the clinical setting; this latter fact is of particular concern because, in the new National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines, many more black patients with hypercholesterolemia should be receiving more intensive lipid-lowering treatment. A number of steps must be taken to improve prospects of CHD risk reduction through lipid-lowering therapy in African Americans. These include improving the understanding of the relationship of risk factors to disease and improving the understanding of both lipid responses to and clinical benefits of lipid-lowering therapy. In addition, because African Americans have a higher prevalence of several modifiable CHD risk factors, this population should be rigorously targeted for risk-reduction strategies, including screening and treatment for hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia. Educational outreach programs can provide a key role in raising community awareness of CHD risk factors and potential treatment options.