Hypertension: A Silent Killer in Communities of Color

By Desert Star Staff

About 45% of Black Americans have hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, compared to 31% of white Americans. Now, a new program in Southern California is working to lower the numbers.

The American Heart Association is teaming up with the healthcare company Providence on a three-year program to narrow the disparities affecting Black and Latino Californians in the Los Angeles area.

Dr. David Pryor, regional vice president and medical director at Anthem California and co-chair of the American Heart Association Los Angeles Hypertension Task Force, called hypertension a “silent killer.”

“A person may have high blood pressure and don’t even know it,” Pryor explained. “They actually could be feeling quite normal. It is only when the blood pressure gets more severely elevated that a person might start noticing symptoms like headaches, chest pains, or shortness of breath.”

The program places blood pressure kiosks in the community, provides health resources to barbershops and salons, and trains community health workers. The Heart Association also offers a lecture series for primary care providers on treating hypertension in the Black and Latino communities.

Dr. Daniel Lewis, regional medical director for Facey Medical Group in Tarzana and leader of the group’s Black Physicians Council, said it’s essential to “know your numbers.”

“The way people die, most of all, is a heart attack,” Lewis pointed out.

“And hypertension is one of the main associating factors. Unfortunately, hypertension runs highest in the Black community, and heart attack, stroke, and kidney problems come with that.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported heart attacks are

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the country’s number one killer, taking almost 700,000 lives in 2020. In the same year, more than 160,000 people had fatal strokes.

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