For Native Americans, heart health doesn't come easy

Karen Sopko, M.D., grew up on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico and knows firsthand from her practice as a cardiologist how heart disease and the risk factors associated with it are striking the Native American community, particularly diabetes.

“Native Americans are definitely at higher risk for diabetes, hypertension and tobacco use,” she said. “And those risk factors have contributed a lot to the development of heart problems in Native American populations, which we haven’t seen before.”

http://news.heart.org/for-native-americans-heart-health-doesnt-come-easy/