Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Nicoletta Alexander

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes the most deaths in the United States and is disproportionately impacting certain groups more than others. A gap in the research exists when focusing on national data for those who bear the highest burden of CVD amongst people with hypertension when cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are examined. There is also a need to investigate the relationships between key indicators for CVD health disparities in people with hypertension. The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the cumulative effect of key health disparities indicators such as race, age, gender, education, and income using national-level surveillance data to determine if there are significant differences in CVD morbidity and mortality outcomes among people with hypertension. Systems theory is the theoretical foundation for this research study. Two major research questions seek to determine if there are significant differences in the selected CVD morbidity and CVD mortality outcomes in hypertensive subpopulations who are ages 30 years and older who experience health disparities, and the best group in the United States for hypertension when 3 or more of the health disparities indicators intersect. Data were provided by NHANES between 1999–2010. The results of multivariate analysis show that there are significant differences among people with hypertension in morbidity and mortality CVD outcomes when three or more health disparity indicators intersect. Positive social change can result when the findings of this study are used to address health disparities in CVD and hypertension.

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