Defeat heart disease and diabetes same way - experts say

Page 14

Heart disease is at the top of the list in chronic health risk survey results posted on the Assembly of First Nations' internet pages. The data, from the First Nations and Inuit Regional Health Survey report, which the AFN helped produce, says that eight per cent of First Nations and Inuit adults surveyed in 1997 reported heart problems. Worse still, heart disease rates for all ages in the surveyed Aboriginal communities are three times the Canadian average. Nationally, that's three times higher for Aboriginal men and 2.9 for Aboriginal women.

Alarming as this is, up until the 1980s statistics showed Aboriginal people had lower rates of heart disease than other Canadians. So, further surveys need to be done before drawing conclusions, the AFN's fact sheet says. But that does not mean people should ignore the risk factors that affect them now.

According to the report, the big three contributing factors to ischemic heart disease are smoking, hypertension (high blood pressure) and high serum cholesterol.

The AFN statistics reveal that a high number of the respondents had one or more of these risk factors.

First, smoking: The companion report on tobacco use resulting from the 1997 surveys reveals that 62 per cent of adult respondents smoked. As did nearly 75 per cent of respondents in their early twenties. In all, the Aboriginal rate of smokers, according to the surveys, was at least twice the Canadian average. Smoking constricts blood vessels, thus contributing to high blood pressure, the second big risk factor.

Aboriginal people also have much higher rates for hypertension than other Canadians, according to the report, although earlier surveys indicated they had lower rates. The risk for hypertension in Aboriginal men and women is 2.8 and 2.5 times greater, respectively. Other than smoking, the kind and amount of diet and exercise usually affect people's risk for high blood pressure more than other factors. Obesity contributes to the risk of hypertension, and therefore the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and other serious health problems.

Cholesterol rates, the third main risk factor, are affected by both diet and genetics. These rates have increased since the 1970s too, the national surveys reveal. Formerly, Aboriginal people were found to be at lower risk than average to develop high cholesterol.

Another factor that contributes to the risk of getting heart disease is diabetes, which is acknowledged by experts as being of epidemic proportions in many communities, at three to five times the rate as for non-Aboriginal Canadians.