Background and Purpose: Population-wide reductions in cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality have not been shared equally by African Americans. The burden of cardiovascular disease in the African American community remains high and is a primary cause of disparities in life expectancy between African Americans and whites. The objectives of the present scientific statement are to describe cardiovascular health in African Americans and to highlight unique considerations for disease prevention and management.

Method: The primary sources of information were identified with PubMed/Medline and online sources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Results: The higher prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (eg, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk) underlies the relatively earlier age of onset of cardiovascular diseases among African Americans. Hypertension in particular is highly prevalent among African Americans and contributes directly to the notable disparities in stroke, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease among African Americans. Despite the availability of effective pharmacotherapies and indications for some tailored pharmacotherapies for African Americans (eg, heart failure medications), disease management is less effective among African Americans, yielding higher mortality. Explanations for these persistent disparities in cardiovascular disease are multifactorial and span from the individual level to the social environment.

Conclusions: The strategies needed to promote equity in the cardiovascular health of African Americans require input from a broad set of stakeholders, including clinicians and researchers from across multiple disciplines.

背景与目的：非裔美国人没有平等地分享全民心血管疾病发病率和死亡率的下降。非裔美国人社区的心血管疾病负担仍然很高，并且是非裔美国人和白人之间预期寿命差异的主要原因。本科学声明的目的是描述非裔美国人的心血管健康，并强调疾病预防和管理的独特考虑。

方法：通过PubMed / Medline和疾病控制与预防中心的在线资源确定了主要的信息来源。

结果：传统的心血管危险因素（例如高血压，糖尿病，肥胖症和动脉粥样硬化性心血管疾病危险）的较高患病率是非洲裔美国人心血管疾病发病年龄相对较早的基础。高血压在非裔美国人中尤为普遍，直接导致非裔美国人在中风，心力衰竭和外周动脉疾病方面的显着差异。尽管可以使用有效的药物治疗方法，并且可以针对非裔美国人量身定制一些药物治疗方法（例如，心力衰竭药物），但非裔美国人的疾病管理效果较差，死亡率更高。导致心血管疾病持续存在差异的原因是多方面的，涉及的范围从个人到社会环境。

结论：促进非裔美国人心血管健康公平性所需的战略需要广泛的利益相关者的投入，包括来自多个学科的临床医生和研究人员。