Who cares about blood pressure when you're trying to make the rent?
According to a new study, not Black folks. Nearly two-thirds of study participants suffering from high blood pressure said that fact concerned them much less than the stress of daily life—job, financial stability, home concerns—BET reports.
Fifty-five percent found themselves more concerned with their financial future as compared to the previous year, while just twenty-eight percent reported feeling more concerned about their health compared to the year before.
And, in perhaps the studies most troubling statistic:
" [O]f the 75 percent of African Americans with high blood pressure who were aware of a family history of blood pressure before they were diagnosed, 59 percent did not take any steps to keep their blood pressure down before their own diagnosis."
Whiel factors of socioeconomic status or ability to address health concerns were not reported, the above statistic is disquieting considering:
"African Americans are more likely to develop hypertension any other racial or ethnic group, and often to a more severe extent. High blood pressure is the trigger for heart attacks, stroke, organ failure, kidney disease, and has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease."