Wall Street Journal interviews Permanente physicians on heart disease, stroke study

Across the United States, deaths from heart disease and stroke rose 4.3% and 6.4% in 2019 and 2020, respectively, compared with the previous 8 years, and the risk of dying was significantly higher among people of color, physician-researchers with The Permanente Medical Group and Kaiser Permanente Division of Research told The Wall Street Journal.

“The pandemic melted the tip of the iceberg to reveal how precarious our health care system is for many populations,” said Jamal Rana, MD, a TPMG cardiologist, chief of Cardiology at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, and senior author of the study in JAMA Open Network.

The physician-researchers found that deaths linked to an increased risk of heart disease in non-Hispanic Black people were more than 5 times higher percentage-wise than for non-Hispanic white people. For stroke, the deaths linked to increased risk increased twice as much among Black people compared with white people. Hispanic and Asian populations were also at greater risk of death from heart attack and stroke.

“That is reflecting badly on our ability to address health disparities,” said Stephen Sidney, MD, director of research clinics at the Division of Research and lead author of the study.

Note: Read the entire story in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).