AsianScientist (Oct. 1, 2014) – South Asians living in Canada have a higher rate of heart disease and double the rate of diabetes compared with while people, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
South Asians, referring to people from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in Canada, comprising about three percent of the population. To understand the risk of heart disease in this population, researchers looked at data from 50 studies conducted in Canada between 1979 and 2007 that included more than 5.8 million people.
Collectively, the studies showed that people of South Asian background have a higher prevalence of heart disease (a history of myocardial infarction, angina, coronary artery bypass grafting or stroke) compared with white people (5.7 to 10 percent for South Asians and 5.4 to 5.7 percent for whites).
Rates of death from coronary artery disease were also higher: 42 percent for South Asian men compared with 29 percent of white men and 29 percent versus 19 percent for women. South Asian people are also more likely to have diabetes and hypertension than white people.
Even when the authors compared South Asians to white people of the same body size, South Asians had higher percentages of body fat and more abdominal fat, and South Asian women had a higher waist-to-hip ratio, which are all key risk factors for heart disease. However, South Asians were less likely to be obese (BMI>30) and 60 percent less likely to smoke than white Canadians.
“[Our findings emphasize] the need to develop a standardized surveillance system for non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer and lung diseases, by ethnic group in Canada,” writes Sonia Anand, professor of medicine of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University.
“Such a system would generate information that would help shape health services, policies and programs aimed at particularly high-risk ethnic groups.”
“Given the increased prevalence and mortality associated with CVD among South Asian people living in Canada, etiologic studies to understand the development of these risk factors among children and youth and intervention strategies to reduce risk factors and CVD among this high-risk group are needed,” said coauthor Dr. Scott Lear of Simon Fraser University.
The article can be found at: Rana et al. (2014) Cardiovascular risk among South Asians living in Canada: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
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Source: McMaster University; Photo: Tony Alter/Flickr/CC.
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