Traditionally, cardiovascular risk factors and overall risk of heart attack or stroke are grouped together for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations -- but that method hides important variations in risk factor prevalence and disease burden, a recent study found.
The preliminary findings were presented at American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions in New Orleans. Researchers analyzed health records for more than 2.6 million adults in large private health systems in California and Hawaii between 2012 and 2022. The patients all had no history of heart attack, stroke, heart failure or atrial fibrillation. About 677,500 participants self-identified as Chinese, Filipino, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, other Southeast Asian -- including Thai, Laotian, Cambodian, Hmong, Burmese, Indonesian, Malaysian or Singaporean -- or South Asian, including Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Nepali or Bhutanese.
Researchers compared the prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease and smoking, among adults in each of the subgroups to about 2 million non-Hispanic white adults in the same health system database.
"Despite being the fastest-growing population in the U.S., existing studies about Asian subgroups remain limited by inadequate sample size and exclusion of some major disaggregated subgroups, as well as a lack of long-term follow-up," Rishi Parikh, PhD, a senior research analyst at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California division of research in Pleasanton, said in a March 10 American Heart Association news release.
Here are five findings:
1. All subgroups had higher rates of diabetes and high cholesterol compared to non-Hispanic white adults, but Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adults had lower rates of smoking.
2. High blood pressure ranged from 12% for Chinese adults to 30% for Filipino adults. However, these two subgroups also had the lowest and highest rates of high cholesterol (20% and 33%, respectively).
3. Chinese adults had the lowest rate of Type 2 diabetes at 5%, compared to 14% for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adults.
4. Obesity rates ranged from 11% in Vietnamese adults to 41% in Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adults.
5. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adults were also among the highest-risk subgroup for experiencing a heart attack or stroke within 10 years.