Risk of certain diseases higher for blacks, health officials say

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Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, HIV/AIDS as well as prostate and breast cancer are more widespread among blacks than any other ethnicity, and according to a university health official, socioeconomic and cultural factors, rather than genetics, are to blame.

“When I talk to various students, I find that stress is on a high level among African Americans,” said Oscar Battle, health education coordinator at San Jose State University.

Stress, Battle said, can lead to numerous diseases, most frequently cardiovascular ones, such as High Blood Pressure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death among Americans in general, but heart disease rates among African Americans are more than 25 percent higher than among whites.

Such statistics are also visible on SJSU’s campus, said Steven Harris, director of the SJSU Student Health Center.

“Probably one of the biggest things we see here among African Americans is High Blood Pressure,” he said. “They normally exhibit it at an earlier age than other groups.”

To Battle, this phenomenon didn’t seem surprising.

“The (black) networking that used to be around campus is not here anymore,” he said, referring to the fact that numerous black social clubs have dwindled over the past few years.

According to Institutional Planning and Academic Resources, blacks make up only about 4 percent of SJSU’s student body.

Being such a minority, especially if there is a lack of social networks, Battle said, can make students feel more isolated and more prone to stress.

In addition to that, he said there has been a more individualistic trend among students, which makes them push through college on their own rather than seeking support in others.

Melissa Garcia, a creative arts major, said she knew about High Blood Pressure and diabetes being a high health risk among blacks from a recent health show on CNN.

As for the reasons, Garcia said she wasn’t sure.

“From what I’ve heard, it’s probably a combination of genetics and lifestyle,” said the senior.

While environmental pressures contribute to cardiovascular diseases among African Americans, socioeconomic factors play a crucial role with the disproportionately high numbers of blacks infected with HIV/AIDS.

According to the CDC, 54 percent of Americans diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2002 were black, and among the women diagnosed with the disease, 72 percent were black.

Battle said the high number of black women with HIV/AIDS is mainly because of intravenous drug use and sexual intercourse with infected men.

“We (African Americans) have not learned the lesson about AIDS,” he said, referring to the fact that too few African American women are demanding men be tested.

According to Battle, cultural values and social taboos among blacks often contribute to procrastinated HIV testing and cancer screenings.

That is one of the reasons, Battle said, why prostate cancer is a big issue among blacks.

Many women, he said, were also reluctant about getting tested themselves, because it would be comparable to admitting that something is wrong.

“The thing about HIV is that African Americans really don’t like to talk about their sexual intimacy,” he said.

The fact that many black men feel uncomfortable with prostate cancer exams contributes to the high numbers of prostate cancer among blacks, Battle said.

But the main cancer-related concern among blacks is the disproportionately high death rate, he said.

That, he said, is directly related to the fact that a high number of African Americans have limited access to quality health care.

“If you don’t have access to care, you don’t have a good health outcome,” Harris said, referring to the fact that a wide range of health issues among blacks with lower socioeconomic status can be explained with inadequate health care, not genetic predisposition.

The only disease that is high among blacks for biological reasons is sickle-cell anemia, Harris said.

Rafael Dela Cruz, a senior majoring in business, said he first learned about the disease, when, several years ago, MTV reported that rapper Prodigy of Mobb Deep was battling with it.

“I know that blood cells turn into sickle (shapes) and they clog the arteries,” he said.

The sickle-shaped blood cells in people afflicted with the disease likely developed a long time ago, originally helping to protect people living in Africa against malaria, Harris said.

According to a health center information leaflet, one in 10 blacks in the United States have sickle-cell anemia.

People with sickle-cell anemia often develop typical anemia symptoms, such as fatigue and pale skin, Harris said.

He said sometimes there can be complications with large numbers of sickle cells sticking together at the joints and obstructing blood flow. Such a sickle-cell crisis, Harris said, generally requires emergency care.

According to Harris, there is no real treatment for sickle-cell anemia.

“What they try to do is to counsel people who are carriers,” he said, since two people who are both sickle-cell anemia carriers may have children born with the condition.

The SJSU Student Health Center recommends that people with sickle-cell anemia maintain good general health through diet and exercise, avoid stress, limit strenuous activity and be careful of infection from cuts and bruises.

The center also encourages potential sickle-cell anemia carriers to get tested and to inform themselves about the condition.

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