Socioeconomic Status And Heart Disease Essay

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Socioeconomic Status Related To Heart Disease The heart is the hardest working muscle in the body, pumping approximately two ounces every day for a lifetime. To keep this small but efficient muscle working, one must understand the importance of heart health. Unfortunately this lack of understanding causes millions of Americans to suffer from heart disease. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) “Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most ethnicities in the United States, including African Americans, Hispanics, and whites.(2)” Among these ethnicities, African Americans have the highest death rate. Why is it that African Americans are at the top of this list? Perhaps it is because of the social inequality experienced on the socioeconomic scale. Socioeconomic status can heavily influence the optimal health of the heart in an individual; resulting in cardiac injury. Socioeconomic status is comprised of income, housing, education, employment, and social position. Living in urban communities also adds stressors which gravely impacts the heart; leading to heart failure. This type of stress can be …show more content…

This means the chances of getting heart disease can increase rapidly. People of lower socioeconomic status have higher risk factors for heart disease because of stress, poor lifestyle choices, and lack of health care information. Everyone experiences stress, whether it is from school, work, or day to day life, stress can consume anyone. The problem with stress is that if it is not managed appropriately it can contribute to many factors which will lead to heart disease. According to the American Heart Association Ernesto L. Schiffrin, M.D. states “When stress is excessive, it can contribute to everything from high blood pressure, also called hypertension, to asthma to ulcers to irritable bowel syndrome”. Due to low income; people of lower