Executive summary of the African-American initiative

The roundtable discussion, "Managing Cardiovascular Disease in African Americans: Emerging Strategies for Optimizing Care," was convened to review the evidence that supports best practices for the management of cardiovascular disease and its complications in African Americans. Treatment guidelines are reviewed, as is the clinical evidence supporting the use of diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and beta-blockers. The ultimate goals of this work are to improve the understanding of the links among hypertension, diabetes, the metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease, all of which disproportionately affect African Americans, and to increase physician awareness of the unique impact of these conditions in the often underserved African-American population.