While heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., racial and ethnic minority groups have more risk factors and diagnoses than people who are white.

Compared to white men, Black men have a 70% higher risk of heart failure. 

Similarly, Black women have a 50% higher risk of heart failure, when compared to white women. 

Black adults are twice as likely to be hospitalized for heart failure, and stay longer in the hospital, than white adults. They’re also more likely to go back into the hospital for heart failure within 90 days. 

Hispanic adults are more likely than white adults to have heart failure, and at a younger age.

Despite their higher risk, only a small percentage of Hispanic men and women know what their cholesterol levels are or get screening by a doctor. High cholesterol increases your risk for coronary heart disease, which may lead to heart failure. 

People in minority communities receive less than 40% of the advanced heart failure therapies, heart transplants, and devices that help pump blood through the heart (ventricular assistive devices) given every year. 

Black and Hispanic people are underrepresented in clinical trials on heart failure. This leads to less accurate and effective treatment of heart failure in these communities. 

Studies on Black adults’ higher risk of cardiovascular disease show that race itself isn’t the risk factor. Instead, social, economic, and racial barriers increase their risk by decreasing preventive care.

In the last 10 years, rates of hospitalization for heart failure have gone down overall, but disparities between Black adults and white adults have stayed the same.