Abstract 17: Association of Race and Sex with Cardiovascular Disease and Non-Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: The REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study
Introduction: Black Americans have higher rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality compared with whites. Differences in sociodemographic, psychosocial, CVD, and other risk factors may explain increased mortality risk. Methods: We analyzed data from 29,015 REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study participants to determine factors that may explain the higher hazard ratio for CVD and non-CVD mortality in blacks compared with whites. Cause of death was adjudicated by trained investigators. Within age-sex sub-groups, we used Cox proportional hazards regression with progressive adjustment to estimate black:white hazard ratios. Results: Overall, 41.0% of participants were black, and 54.9% were women. Over a mean follow-up of 7.1 years (maximum 12.3 years), 5,299 participants died (1,797 CVD and 3,502 non-CVD deaths). Among participants < 65 years of age, the age and region adjusted black:white hazard ratio for CVD mortality was 2.28 (95% CI: 1.68-3.10) and 2.32 (95% CI: 1.80-3.00) for women and men, respectively, and for participants ≥ 65 was 1.54 (95% CI: 1.30-1.82) and 1.35 (95% CI: 1.16-1.57) for women and men, respectively ( Table ). The higher black:white hazard ratios for CVD mortality were no longer statistically significant after multivariable adjustment, with the largest attenuation occurring with sociodemographic and CVD risk factor adjustment. Among participants < 65 years of age, the age and region adjusted black:white hazard ratios for non-CVD mortality were 1.51 (95% CI: 1.24-1.85) and 1.76 (95% CI: 1.46-2.13) for women and men, respectively, and for participants ≥ 65 was 1.12 (95% CI: 1.00-1.26) and 1.34 (95% CI: 1.20-1.49) for women and men, respectively. The higher black:white hazard ratios for non-CVD mortality were attenuated after adjustment for sociodemographics. Conclusions: Black:white differences are larger for CVD than non-CVD causes of death. The increased CVD mortality for blacks compared with whites is primarily explained by sociodemographic and CVD risk factors.