National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. According to the National Vital Statistics Report, blacks have considerably lower death rates from heart disease as compared to whites. However, another study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that the black mortality rate from heart disease is 36 percent higher than that of whites. Thus, because of contradictory data, the literature does not establish a firm consensus on race and rates of heart disease. As for the effect of gender, women have slightly higher races of heart disease among whites, but lower rates among blacks.
White women are more likely than any other group to die from heart disease.
Literature's Findings on Age Older people in general tend to be more overweight and have higher rates of heart disease. For those in the 65-74 age range, 42.9 percent of men and 42.3 percent of women are overweight. In the age group over 65, 1,781.1 deaths out of every 100,000 are from heart disease. The consensus seems to be that those who live in rural areas are more likely than those who live in urban areas to be obese. In the United States, the effect of urban verses rural life on rates of heart disease is less researched.