Community Intervention to Improve CVD Risk Factor Control in Young American Indians

American Indians are more likely to die from heart disease compared to other people in the United States. High levels of fat (lipids) and sugar (glucose) in the blood are related to heart disease. Young American Indians who are 18 to 39 years old have high lipid and glucose levels. This has led to heart disease later in life. This means they are likely to benefit from a program to lower these levels. In this project, researchers will work with American Indians in rural southwestern Oklahoma. The researchers will start by asking American Indians how they would like to design a program for younger members of their community. After getting permission, the researchers will take a small amount of blood from young community members. The researchers will measure lipid and glucose levels and ask those with high levels to be in the study. Then the researchers will do several measurements. These will include blood pressure, height, weight, diet, physical activity, sleep, tobacco and alcohol use, access to health care, and social support. The researchers will compare these measurements to similar measurements taken from young American Indians 20 years ago, collected through the Strong Heart Study, which is the longest running study measuring heart disease in American Indians. Next, the researchers want to know if the program they developed with the American Indian communities will work. To do this, they will put people in one of two groups. They will decide which group each person will be in using a process that is like flipping a coin (heads for one group, tails for the other group). One group will receive educational booklets about how to avoid getting heart disease. The other group will receive help from a community health worker. The community health worker will help participants to get to the doctor for treatment. They will also help participants change their diet and exercise routines and provide education about heart disease risk factors. After 9 and 18 months, the re