Seven Deadliest Diseases For Blacks

 

 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are several deadly diseases that strike Blacks harder and more often than they do other groups, particularly whites.

What are the ones affecting us the most? And more importantly, how can we better fight back?

First, here are the top seven diseases to keep in mind…

• Diabetes. 60% more common in Blacks than in whites. Blacks are up to 2.5 times more likely to suffer a limb amputation and up to 5.6 times more likely to suffer kidney disease than other people with diabetes.

• Asthma. Blacks are three times more likely to die of asthma than whites.

• Sarcoidosis. Deaths from lung scarring — sarcoidosis — are 16 times more common among Blacks than among whites. The disease recently killed former NFL star Reggie White at age 43.

• Lung Cancer. Despite lower tobacco exposure, Black men are 50% more likely than white men to get lung cancer.

• Strokes. Strokes kill 4 times more 35- to 54-year-old Black Americans than white Americans. Blacks have nearly twice the first-time stroke risk of whites.

• High Blood Pressure. Blacks develop high blood pressure earlier in life — and with much higher blood pressure levels — than whites. Nearly 42% of Black men and more than 45% of Black women aged 20 and older have high blood pressure.

• Cancer. Cancer treatment is equally successful for all races. Yet Black men have a 40% higher cancer death rate than white men. African American women have a 20% higher cancer death rate than white women.

Source.