Risk of certain diseases higher for blacks, health officials say

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.