Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

This meeting abstract reports on research conducted by Druenell E. Linton, an internal medicine resident at Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues on the research team. The researchers analyzed patients from the Duke Databank of over 130,000 patients. They selected 920 Lumbee patients and, for comparison, 2,763 non-Lumbees. All the selected patients had undergone cardiac catheterization and had been found to have coronary artery disease.

Based on their analysis, the researchers determined that "Lumbee Native Americans have a higher burden of CVD [cardiovascular disease] risk factors, and higher rates of non-fatal MI [myocardial infarction] on follow-up, despite similar all-cause mortality and lower rates of repeat revascularization, even after adjustment for risk factors."

The following are the main results of the analysis. Lumbees in their study, in comparison with non-Lumbees,

• presented with cardiovascular disease at a younger age

• had a higher prevalence of hypertension

• had a higher prevalence of peripheral vascular disease

• had a higher prevalence of diabetes

• were more likely to smoke

• were more likely to have had a previous myocardial infarction

• had a higher prevalence of family history of coronary artery disease

• had higher body mass indices

• had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome

• had a higher prevalence of three-vessel coronary artery disease

For a more detailed account of the study, see the article, "Lumbee Native Americans have higher cardiovascular risks" at the DukeMed News Web site, http://dukemednews.duke.edu/news/article.php?id=9554 (unavailable as of 3/7/12).