The incidence rate of heart failure was 2- to 3-fold higher among American Indian populations than rates observed in studies focused on other population groups, such as African American, Hispanic or white adults, in a new study published today in the . The results were calculated using a new proposed risk prediction scale for specifically for American Indian adults. The analysis also found that smoking, type 2 status, kidney damage, previous heart attack and high blood pressure are major modifiable determinants of developing heart failure over 5 to 10 years among American Indian adults.
"Implementation of our proposed risk prediction scale in clinical practice can contribute to optimized and to the development of preventive strategies to reduce heart failure events and deaths in American Indian communities and populations with a high burden of type 2 diabetes, which have been underrepresented in previous studies," said lead study author Irene Martinez-Morata M.D., Ph.
D., and a researcher at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. Heart failure is a leading cause of death among people with type 2 diabetes, and occurs at a higher rate in American Indian populations than in Black, Hispanic and white populations in the U.
S. Existing heart failure risk prediction scales may not appropriately estimate the risk of heart failure among American Indian communities and other populations affected by a high rate of type 2 diabetes, Martinez-Morata noted. In.