Heart failure-the importance of ethnicity

• Published in: European journal of heart failure Vol. 6; no. 7; pp. 831 - 843
• Main Authors: Sosin, Michael D., Bhatia, Gurbir S., Davis, Russell C., Lip, Gregory Y.H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2004
• Subjects: Cardiovascular Agents - therapeutic use; Clinical Trials as Topic; Decision Making; Disease Management; Epidemiological; Europe - ethnology; Forecasting; Health Services Accessibility; Heart Failure - ethnology; Heart Failure - etiology; Heart Failure - physiopathology; Humans; Mechanistic; Risk Factors; Therapeutic; United States - ethnology; United States; Europe
• ISSN: 1388-9842; 1879-0844
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejheart.2003.11.019

Heart failure is a major public health problem in the Western world. Aetiological factors involved in its development include hypertension, diabetes, and ischaemic heart disease—all of which differ in prevalence, and possibly mechanism, between patients of differing ethnicity. Unfortunately, epidemiological and therapeutic trials have involved almost exclusively white populations, and evidence from these trials cannot necessarily be assumed to be generalisable to populations that include high proportions of patients from other ethnic origins. This review will discuss the mechanistic and therapeutic differences that exist in heart failure between those of European origin, and patients from the major ethnic minority groups of the UK.