Some minorities more likely to see heart health deteriorate: study

Interesting new study on how lifestyle in Canada affects different minority groups, as they integrate and adopt unhealthy Canadian food and lack of exercise habits:

The study looked at data from nearly 220,000 Canadians who took part in Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey. The researchers focused on individuals belonging to Canada’s four major ethnic groups: white, South Asian, Chinese and black.

The results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting health problems affect ethnic groups at different rates. While genes certainly play a role, they do not tell the entire story, Chiu said.

“I like to think of it as genes load up the gun and environment pulls the trigger,” she said.

Her study helps explain why some ethnic groups appear to be more vulnerable to certain health conditions. Overall, the ethnic minority groups included in the study had household incomes that were as much as $30,000 lower than those of their white counterparts.

Those groups also reported that they ate fewer fruits and vegetables. At the same time, smoking rates among all of the groups studied fell, with the exception of black women and Chinese men.

“This is another wakeup call,” said Dr. Sonia Anand, professor of medicine and epidemiology at McMaster University in Hamilton and a spokeswoman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “We have to get going or we’re going to end up with an epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the next 20 years.”

Anand was not involved in this study, but much of her research focuses on the causes of heart disease in ethnic groups. She said the evidence is clear the differences exist, but there is no clear strategy on how to solve this complex problem.

The important question for researchers and policy makers, according to Chiu, is how to bridge the gap and reverse the trends.

One solution will be to tailor campaigns to ethnic groups, Chiu said. They need to know they are at risk and what changes they can make to reduce their vulnerability, such as quitting smoking or eating more fruits and vegetables.

And, as Anand noted, “we move less, we commute by car, we don’t live in walkable neighbourhoods.”

That means the necessary solutions are going to require a lot of time, co-ordination, funding and commitment, she said.

Some minorities more likely to see heart health deteriorate: study – The Globe and Mail.