Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Migrants Participating in the PEP Family Heart Study, Nuremberg

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in adults and their children from the 3 major groups of migrants participating in the PEP Family Heart Study11 and to compare the cardio-metabolic risk profiles between migrants and German participants. METHODS: In this community-based cross-sectional study, anthropometric data, blood pressure and lipid profiles of migrants (480 children, 363 adults) from Turkey (TUR), Eastern Europe (EEU) and German immigrants from the former Soviet Union (GFSU) were compared with age and gender adjusted German (GER) residents (3253 children, 2491 adults). RESULTS: The profile of risk factors differed considerably regarding specificity and frequency. The prevalence of ≥3 risk factors was as follows: in GFSU men 62%, women 36%, boys 19% and girls 17%; in TUR men 57%, women 30%, 15% boys and 6% girls; in GER men 48%, women 19%, boys 4% and girls 6%; for EEU men 38%, women 25% and 0% in children. No risk factor was present in GFSU men 13%, women 25%, boys 38% and girls 42%; TUR men 13%, women 28%, boys 27% and girls 22 %; GER men16%, women 45%, boys 46% and girls 41%; EEU men 17%, women 42 %, boys 29% and girls 27%. About 50% of the adults from Turkey and Eastern Europe were current smokers and one third of women and half of men from these two countries were overweight. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of primary care measures for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in migrants is necessary, and it should consider the ethnic differences and the heterogeneous risk profiles.