When the level of cholesterol in the blood is high, there is a greater chance that it will be depositied onto the artery walls. This process begins in most people during childhood and the teenage years and worsens as they get older. On the average, each of these doubles your chance of developing heart disease. Therefore, a person who has all three risk factors is eight times more likely to develop heart disease than someone who has none of the risk factors. Two of the major risk factors of CHD are obesity and physical inactivity.
Physical inactivity increases the risk of heart attack.
However, life expectancy and rates of illness and death from CHD have not improved as much for Blacks as for Whites. Blacks have not experienced the full benefit of research advancements for a variety of reasons, including insufficient scientific data, lack of research focused on minority populations, and limited access to health care resources and technology. Consistent and universally accepted racial and ethnic categories have not been established, and definitions may vary according to the social and scientific context. The limited database currently available leaves a number of paradoxes unresolved. Controversy remains, in particular, regarding both chest pain and sudden death.