Cardiovascular risk in adult Melbourne Chinese

Abstract

Abstract: Chinese migrants have low cardiovascular mortality, particularly in their first 10 years of residence in Australia. The apparent increase in cardiovascular deaths among Asian migrants who have lived in Australia for more than 10 years suggests that cardiovascular risk transition may occur soon after migration. In this descriptive study, we found that Melbourne Chinese were not low in cardiovascular risk factors as usually defined. The prevalence of hyperlipidaemia (7.7 per cent for men and 5.2 per cent for women) was similar to the prevalence for other Australians (6.8 per cent for men and 4.4 per cent for women). In spite of low mean blood pressure (systolic blood pressure 114+23 mmHg (mean+standard deviation) and diastolic blood pressure 67.3+10.6 mmHg), Melbourne Chinese women were hypertensive as often as their Australian counterparts. The prevalence of cigarette smoking in men (26.9 per cent) was also comparable to prevalence for Australian males (24.1 per cent). Being slim is the only recognised cardiovascular protection that Melbourne Chinese may have. A high waist‐to‐hip ratio (0.91+0.054 for men and 0.88+0.077 for women), however, may outweigh the potential benefit of a lower prevalence of overweight (17.7 per cent for men and 14.1 per cent for women). Melbourne Chinese men had a multiple risk‐factor profile similar to their Australian counterparts. Differences in multiple risk factors in women were attributable to fewer Chinese women having a single risk factor (15.4 per cent versus 30.1 per cent). While cardiovascular mortality and risk‐factor prevalence is declining in Australia, our study suggests that migrants such as Melbourne Chinese may not share the same health improvement.