Epidemiology of Heart Failure Stages in Middle-Aged Black People in the Community: Prevalence and Prognosis in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Background Black individuals have a higher burden of risk factors for heart failure (HF) and subclinical left ventricular remodeling. Methods and Results We evaluated 1871 Black participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study cohort who attended a routine examination (1993-1996, median age 58 years) when they underwent echocardiography. We estimated the prevalences of 4 HF stages: (1) : no risk factors; (2) : presence of HF risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, smoking, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease without clinical myocardial infarction), no cardiac structural/functional abnormality; (3) : presence of prior myocardial infarction, systolic dysfunction, left ventricular hypertrophy, regional wall motion abnormality, or left ventricular enlargement; and (4) : prevalent HF.