Heart Failure and Ethnicity
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- People from South Asia are more likely to have heart failure, but are less likely to die from it than their white counterparts, according to researchers from the United Kingdom. The new study appears in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.
Researchers compared hospital admissions from heart failure in 5,789 South Asian and white patients. They found the incidence of heart failure was four-times higher in South Asian patients than in whites. South Asians also were, on average, eight years younger and more likely to be male. Researchers also found South Asians were more likely to have previous heart attacks or diabetes.
South Asians make up the largest ethnic minority group in the United Kingdom. This research shows they are 40-percent more likely to have heart disease than whites. Researchers say one positive finding is that death rates are similar for whites and South Asians. They write, "This phenomenon is likely to be multifactorial and could be explained by heart failure being less advanced at the point of first admission, by a differing cause of heart failure in ethnic minority populations, or by better family support after discharge."
The research supports the theory that ethnicity plays a large role in how diseases develop. Authors say this study is important to the South Asian population, in which heart disease and diabetes are common. Further studies are necessary to determine if this finding will be duplicated in other ethnic groups.
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SOURCE: British Medical Journal, 2003;327:526-530
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