Abstract
South Asians in the United States have disproportionately high burden of cardiovascular disease compared to other race/ethnic groups but are a heterogenous population, so we evaluated differences in prevalence and adjusted odds of cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity between North Indian, South Indian, and Pakistani immigrants in the United States in the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) study. Given cultural differences among residents of Indian regions, for example in dietary patterns, we categorized Indian participants as North or South Indian. In 1,018 participants (728 North Indian [47% women], 223 South Indian [43% women], 67 Pakistani [52% women]), unadjusted diabetes and obesity prevalence was highest in Pakistani participants (33% and 48%, respectively); hypertension prevalence was highest in North Indian participants (54%); dyslipidemia prevalence was highest in South Indian and Pakistani participants (55%); and South Indian participants had a higher odds of dyslipidemia (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.27, 2.47) compared with North Indian participants in fully adjusted models. As differences in cardiovascular risk factors were observed across South Asian American subgroups, identifying the determinants of suboptimal cardiovascular health within South Asian American subgroups may help to better tailor cardiovascular disease prevention strategies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 14-18 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | American heart journal |
| Volume | 244 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2022 |
Funding
Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics are presented as mean or geometric mean where skewed (standard deviation), median (interquartile range), or frequency. Chi-square and independent sample t-tests compared characteristics between North Indian, South Indian, and Pakistani participants. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the adjusted odds of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Odds ratios were adjusted first for age and sex, then additionally for years in the US, education, family income, health insurance, BMI (for hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia outcomes), and statin medication use (for dyslipidemia outcome). Analyses for each outcome were also adjusted for the other clinical factors (i.e. odds of hypertension adjusted for dyslipidemia and diabetes). Analyses were conducted in SPSS v.26 in 2021. The MASALA study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards at the University of California San Francisco and Northwestern University, participants provided written informed consent. This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers R01HL093009, UL1RR024131, UL1TR001872, F32HL149187, K23HL157766). The authors are solely responsible for the study design and conduct, all study analyses, the drafting and editing of the paper and its final contents.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
