AsianScientist (Aug. 11, 2011) – More than one quarter of a million people migrate to Canada each year, with the majority settling in Ontario.
Researchers at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Ontario, Canada found that long-term Chinese immigrants, who had lived for more than 15 years in Ontario, had poorer cardiovascular health than white, black, and South Asian immigrants.
“We found a negative acculturation effect, in that long-term residents of Ontario had worse cardiovascular risk profiles than recent immigrants,” said Maria Chiu, principal investigator of the study and ICES Doctoral Fellow.
“Moreover, the degree to which cardiovascular health declined was different for different ethnic groups. The greatest decline was observed in the Chinese group, followed by the white, black, and South Asian groups,” she added.
The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, compared recent immigrants (less than 15 years in Canada) with those of long-term residents (those who were born there, or lived longer than 15 years in Canada).
The researchers found that for all ethnic groups, the percentage of respondents with two or more major cardiovascular risk factors was higher for those who had lived longer in Canada. This difference was greatest in the Chinese group, followed by the white, black, and the South Asian groups.
Incidentally, the Chinese group that was previously found to have the most favorable cardiovascular disease risk profile showed the worst decline in health as a result of being exposed to Western culture.
This is the first study to pinpoint which factors most likely contribute to the decline in heart health in each of Canada’s major ethnic groups.
The differences in the Chinese and white groups were mainly driven by increases in the prevalence of diabetes. Diabetes was 1.8-fold more common in Chinese and white populations than among their recent immigrant counterparts.
Smoking also made a difference in heart health. South Asian and black females who were born in Canada or lived in Canada for at least 15 years were 3 to 4 times more likely to smoke than their recent immigrant counterparts, leading to worsening cardiovascular health.
“Given that immigrants will be responsible for the net growth of the Canadian population by 2031, there is a need to better understand how we can preserve the healthy lifestyles and behaviors of recent immigrants and how we can reduce the negative influences of Western culture that cause health to deteriorate in long-term residents,” Chiu said.
The article can be found at: Chiu, M et al. (2011) Cardiovascular risk factor profiles of recent immigrants vs. long-term residents of Ontario: multi-ethic study.
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Source: Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
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