> Immigrant heart health worsens over time - study
Immigrant heart health worsens over time - study
Contact:
Scott Lear, 1.416.834.3349 (cell), 778.782.7916; salear@sfu.ca
Note: Lear is in Toronto – reachable by cell phone - and will return late Tuesday
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323
Scott Lear, 1.416.834.3349 (cell), 778.782.7916; salear@sfu.ca
Note: Lear is in Toronto – reachable by cell phone - and will return late Tuesday
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323
October 27, 2008
A study by Simon Fraser University kinesiologist Scott Lear and a team of researchers shows that the cardiovascular health of immigrants to Canada worsens the longer they remain in the country.
The high stress of re-establishing in a new country, changing eating habits and language barriers that may impede access to proper health services are potential contributors to the immigrant's heart health decline, the researchers suggest.
Lear reported the findings during the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Toronto Oct. 25-26. He says that while immigrants are typically in good health when they arrive in this country and even tend to have healthier hearts than native-born Canadians, their cardiovascular risk increases as time goes on.
The researchers undertook ultrasound measurements of atherosclerosis - a narrowing of the arteries, and a leading contributor to heart disease and stroke - in 460 immigrants of Chinese, European and South Asian descent, and compared the results with 158 individuals born in Canada.
They found that the narrowing or thickening of arteries progressed as their time in Canada increased. Lear says that for immigrants, time in Canada was a powerful potential risk factor regardless of age and other risk factors.
"There is something going on here - immigrants appear to be at a high risk as far as the potential for heart disease is concerned and should be targeted for prevention strategies," says Lear.
Lear notes that the Heart and Stroke Foundation has adapted its information about heart disease and stroke risk factors to include other languages for immigrants.
The high stress of re-establishing in a new country, changing eating habits and language barriers that may impede access to proper health services are potential contributors to the immigrant's heart health decline, the researchers suggest.
Lear reported the findings during the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Toronto Oct. 25-26. He says that while immigrants are typically in good health when they arrive in this country and even tend to have healthier hearts than native-born Canadians, their cardiovascular risk increases as time goes on.
The researchers undertook ultrasound measurements of atherosclerosis - a narrowing of the arteries, and a leading contributor to heart disease and stroke - in 460 immigrants of Chinese, European and South Asian descent, and compared the results with 158 individuals born in Canada.
They found that the narrowing or thickening of arteries progressed as their time in Canada increased. Lear says that for immigrants, time in Canada was a powerful potential risk factor regardless of age and other risk factors.
"There is something going on here - immigrants appear to be at a high risk as far as the potential for heart disease is concerned and should be targeted for prevention strategies," says Lear.
Lear notes that the Heart and Stroke Foundation has adapted its information about heart disease and stroke risk factors to include other languages for immigrants.