The National Medical Association (NMA), representing the interests of the 50,000 African American physicians in the U.S., has issued the following advisory regarding obesity and cardiovascular health:

Obesity significantly increases the risk of developing several heart conditions, including coronary artery disease, hypertension, heart failure, stroke, and atrial fibrillation. According to the presentation, 950,000 individuals died of heart disease in 2022 and Black Americans are 30% more likely to die of heart disease. Additionally, over one billion persons worldwide have obesity and over 70% of Americans have been classified as being overweight.

“The urgency to address the obesity epidemic in our community has never been more pressing,” said Virginia Caine, MD, the president of the NMA. “It is crucial to understand the complexity of this disease. Obesity is more prevalent in the Black community than any other demographic group in the United States, as 49.9% of Non-Hispanic Black adults live with it. The NMA strongly supports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rule to expand Medicare and Medicaid coverage for anti-obesity medications.”

In addition to poor heart conditions, obesity exacerbates a myriad of health conditions including diabetes, limb amputations, Alzheimers, and multiple cancers. Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are among the most troubling coexisting conditions. In 2021, 36.4 million Americans were living with Type 2 diabetes, and Black adults were twice as likely than White adults to develop the disease. Moreover, people with diabetes undergo 130,000 amputations each year, and they often live in low-income and underinsured neighborhoods. Black patients lose limbs at a rate triple that of other demographic groups. While CVD is the leading cause of death for all adults in the United States, Black adults have a higher rate of risk factors for CVD, such as hypertension and obesity, and they are more than twice as likely to die of the disease than White adults.