Abstract P009: Break the Myth and Revisit Non-Obese Asian American’s Cardiometabolic Risk

Abstract

Asian Americans (AA) have been excluded in major research addressing cardiometabolic health mainly due to their low rate of obesity. However, CVD morbidity and mortality are rapidly increasing among AA population and that warrants revisiting their cardiometabolic risks. The recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted between 2011-14 included non-Hispanic Asian Americans as the first time ever since the survey started in 1960’s, and that will advance our understanding of the AA population by characterizing their cardiometabolic risk. We aimed to compare AA with other ethnic groups in terms of obesity indices, such as body mass Index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD): and clinical markers of CVD risks, such as level of cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose, systolic- and diastolic blood pressure, whether being treated with medication for blood pressure, smoking, and having diabetes. Method: From NHANES 2013-2014 data with total 6553 participants, 5992 were selected by age≥19 for analysis. Demographics, obesity indices, CVD risk factors were extracted in six ethnic groups for comparisons using univariate analysis, ANOVA and Chi-square tests. Results: AA, compared to all ethnic groups, was the leanest in terms of the BMI (24.86±4.32 vs. 29.05±7.18, p<0.001), WC (88.55±11.26 vs. 98.93±16.70 cm, p<0.001), and SAD (19.80±3.20 vs. 22.76±4.89 cm, p<0.001). However, the plasma levels of cholesterol (195.11±40.73 vs. 190.11±42.37 mg/dL, p<0.005), triglyceride (162.85±106.12 vs. 111.13±76.60 mg/dL, p<0.001), and glucose (106.54±42.10 vs. 102.25±40.81 mg/dL, p<0.05) were all higher in AA than in non-Hispanic Black. AA had the highest diastolic blood pressure among all ethnic groups (71.37±11.55 vs. 69.00-69.28mmHg in other groups, p<0.001), but lower in systolic blood pressure compared to non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black (120.60±17.56 vs. 122.30± 17.82, p<0.05, and 126.60±17.56 mmHg, respectively, both p<0.001). In AA, 7.7% were taking prescription for blood pressure, 24.6% smoked everyday which was the lowest among ethnic groups (p<0.001), however AA started smoking at younger age than all other ethnic groups (18.50 vs. 21.40 years, p<0.05). Morbidity of diabetes was 10.2% in AA, lower than other ethnic groups except other-Hispanics (p<0.001). We conclude that unlike the longtime-believed myth, Asian Americans are at high risk as other ethnic groups. Our findings warrants further studies for the mechanisms of non-obese-related CVD that will advance the precision of intervention for AA and the larger population in the world.