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Miami, Jun 05, 2003 (EFE via COMTEX) -- U.S. Hispanics in general represent the group least likely to exercise and most prone to obesity and contracting diabetes, the American Heart Association announced Thursday.
These factors, when combined, increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and other circulatory problems, including stroke, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and congenital heart defects, the AHA said in a report.
As a result, heart disease and strokes are the leading cause of death among Hispanics, who suffer from a high rate of cardiovascular ailments, Eduardo de Marchena, the director of Interventional Cardiology at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, said.
Heart disease and strokes claimed the lives of 30 percent of the more than 107,000 Hispanics who died in 2002.
Among Mexican-American adults, 29 percent of the men and 27 percent of the women suffer from heart disease, the AHA's most-recent figures reveal.
Diseases of the heart are responsible for 12 million deaths each year worldwide and represent half of all deaths in the United States and other developed countries, according to the World Health Organization.
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Copyright (C) 2003. Agencia EFE S.A.
