African-American Health: Heart Disease Awareness Quiz

American Heart Month and You

February has been christened American Heart Month by the American Heart Association. Heart health awareness is critical for African-Americans, who suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension) at what rate:

• 30%
• 45%
• 10%

Black men and women are affected disproportionately by CVD, more commonly called heart disease. Black men are how much more likely to die from heart disease compared to white men?

• 43%
• 10%
• 26%

What is CVD?

• It’s when you have a stroke
• It’s when you have a heart attack
• It’s any disease that affects the cardiovascular system

Emergency care is critical if you are having a heart attack, and its symptoms can be gradual. Can you identify the main symptom of a heart attack?

• Dry mouth
• Pain in the chest or upper body
• Pain the feet

Regular medical care is necessary to address the grave threat cardiovascular disease poses in our community. As an African-American, what should you do once a year to reduce your CVD risk?

• Exercise
• Test your cholesterol
• Take medicine

Why is it important to have your blood sugar levels checked in preventing and treating CVD?

• Diabetes and CVD always coexist
• Diabetes give you chest pains
• CVD is affected by diabetes

As an African-American, your family health history has an impact on the prevention and treatment of CVD. What can you do as an individual in the face of this impact?

• Break the family cycle by making smart choices
• Plan to get CVD, if your relatives have it
• Get your relatives to change, thus improving your risk

Eating healthy is the first step in taking control of the factors that contribute to heart disease. What types of food are NOT heart-healthy?

• High-fat, low-fiber, high-salt, and fried foods
• Whole-grain foods, vegetables, and fruit
• Lean meats, low-fat cheese and low-fat dairy products

Being more physically active is the other most important factor in reducing your risk for heart disease. How much exercise should you try to get per day?

• 30 minutes
• 50 minutes
• 90 minutes

CVD education tailored for blacks is also important for our community, which has special needs in this area. For example, a special heart disease drug was approved just for African-Americans called:

• Cialis
• BiDil
• Revatio