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African
and Mexican Americans are less likely than whites to have
their cholesterol levels checked and are less prone to take
cholesterol-reducing drugs even when instructed to do so by
a doctor.
Analyzing
data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey, researchers at the University of Washington Veteran's
Administration Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle found
that only 37 percent of Mexican Americans and 50 percent of
blacks reported that their cholesterol had been checked compared
to 63 percent of whites.
Although
the survey revealed no racial and ethnic differences among
persons reporting that their doctor told them to take a medication
for high cholesterol, the study's lead author Dr. Karin Nelson
told Medical Week that when actual medication bottles were
examined, only 49% of whites, 29% of African Americans and
28% of Mexican Americans were taking a cholesterol lowering
drug.
Nelson,
a professor of medicine at the university, said the survey
did not ask why individuals were not screened or did not take
their prescribed medication. The study, reported in the April
22nd issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, involved
7,679 white, 4,467 African American and 4,113 Mexican American
adults older than 25 years.
Source:
Medical Week staff,
week of April 28, 2002
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