Almost half U.S. adults have heart risk

Forty-five percent of U.S. adults have hypertension, hypercholesterolemia - high blood cholesterol and triglycerides - or diabetes, health officials said.

Cheryl D. Fryar, epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues said 13 percent had two of these conditions, which increases their risk of heart disease, and 3 percent of adults had all three chronic conditions.

Approximately 8 percent of U.S. adults have undiagnosed hypertension, 8 percent have undiagnosed hypercholesterolemia and 3 percent have undiagnosed diabetes, Fryar said.

Forty-two percent of non-Hispanic black persons have a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension compared with non-Hispanic white at 29.1 percent and Mexican-American persons at 26.1 percent, the study said.

Almost 26 percent of non-Hispanic white people have a significantly higher prevalence of hypercholesterolemia compared with non-Hispanic black at 21.5 percent and Mexican-American persons at 21.8 percent, while almost 15 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and 15.3 percent of Mexican-Americans have a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes than do non-Hispanic white persons at 9.9 percent.

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ATLANTA, April 29 (UPI)