The cardiovascular risk factors of the Roma (Gypsies) people in Central-Eastern Europe: a review of the published literature

Background: Estimated number of the Roma people in central-eastern Europe cannot be precisely appreciated, but official data suggest that in the 2004 they were approximately 4.2 million. At this time, there are few available data about the health status of the Roma people, mostly assessing genetic and infectious diseases, which reflect poverty, overcrowding, and lack of education. There is even less data regarding non–communicable and chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases. Methods: We searched the published literature on the cardiovascular risk factors in Roma people using PubMed from January 2000 to July 2011. The searching criteria were: (1) randomized, prospective observational, retrospective and meta-analysis; (2) adult patients with cardiac diseases or cardiovascular risk factors (3) data available for cardiovascular patients. Search terms included dyslipidemia, obesity, tobacco, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Results: Twenty-five studies were identified. Approximately 75% of them were related to just four countries: Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, and Serbia. This paper is a review based on existing literature concerning classical risk factors in Roma people with emphasis on their ethnical features. Despite limited data, the results showed that this ethnicity has the incriminated risk factors more frequently than the majority and consequently a higher cardiovascular morbidity rate. Conclusions: Quantification of the cardiovascular risk factor and their implication in the shortening of life expectancy in Roma population was a provocation due to a paucity of reliable data. At this time, we should pay more attention on the Roma health issues and the cultural concerns that might affect them in the context of borderless Europe.