UCLA Study Finds That Racial Differences in Cardiovascular Disease Are Due Mainly to Differences in Socioeconomic Status, Not Race

A study by researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles finds that low socioeconomic status is a far greater indicator of cardiovascular disease than is race. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, examined the medical histories of 12,154 individuals for coronary heart disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

The results, published in this month’s issue of the journal Annals of Epidemiology, show that racial disparities in cardiovascular disease are due mainly to the fact that on average blacks tend to be poorer than whites. If blacks and whites of similar socioeconomic status are compared, the racial disparities all but disappear.