Office of Minority Health

• In 2018, American Indians/Alaska Natives were 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease than their white counterparts.
• American Indian/Alaska Natives were 50 percent more likely to be current cigarette smokers, as compared to non-Hispanic whites, in 2018.
• American Indian/Alaska Native adults were 10 percent more likely than white adults to have high blood pressure, as compared to non-Hispanic whites, in 2018.
• American Indians/Alaska Native adults are more likely to be obese than white adults, more likely to have high blood pressure, and they are more likely to be current cigarette smokers than white adults - all risk factors for heart disease.

Diagnosed Cases of Coronary Heart Disease:

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-1a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

Death Rate:

Source: CDC 2021. National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 69, No. 13. Table 10.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/nvsr69-13-508.pdf [PDF | 2.05MB]

Risk Factors:

There are several risk factors related to heart disease. Some of these risk factors are:

Obesity and Overweight

– See Obesity and American Indians/Alaska Natives

Hypertension

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-1a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm
Percentage of adults age 18 and over with hypertension whose blood pressure is under control.
Data not available at this time.

High Cholesterol

Source: CDC 2012. Prevalence of Cholesterol Screening and High Blood Cholesterol Among Adults — United States, 2005, 2007, and 2009. MMWR 61(35): 697-700, Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm6135.pdf  [PDF | 697.04KB]

Source:  AHRQ 2021. National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query. Table 7 _5_ 1_ 4_2.1.
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Cigarette Smoking

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-12a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm 

Source: CDC 2019. Health United States, 2018. Table 19.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus18.pdf [PDF | 1.56MB]

Source:  AHRQ 2021. National Healthcare Quality Report. Table 7_2_1_1_1_.1.
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Source:  CDC 2017. Quitting Smoking Among Adults — United States, 2000–2015. Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/pdfs/mm6552a1.pdf  [PDF | 194K]