Obesity and coronary artery disease risk in Native Americans.

Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in coronary artery disease (CAD) risk is an important public health goal. Although Native Americans have been historically been perceived to be at low risk for CAD, recent findings indicate a high prevalence of CAD risk factors exist in this population. Much of this risk is a result of the increasing incidence of overweight/obesity that can potentially be ameliorated by lifestyle interventions aimed at weight reduction. The purpose of this discussion is to promote awareness of Native Americans as a high-risk CAD population and to suggest strategies for lifestyle interventions aimed at obesity-related CAD risk reduction.