Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide and in the United States (US). Foreign-born (FB) persons in the US are a rapidly increasing population. Despite increased awareness of important sex differences in CVD risk factors (CVDRF), few studies have examined this phenomenon among FB- and US-born adults Hypothesis: We hypothesize that sex differences exist in the prevalence of overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia among FB- and US-Born participants. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional design was used to examine the 2011-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. A generalized linear model using Poisson distribution was fitted to obtain age-adjusted predicted probabilities and risk of overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia by place of birth. These CVD risk factors were defined according to national guidelines. Results: A total of 22429 participants were included with 29.68% (6658/22429) FB and 69.3% (15771/22429) US-born. The mean age was 47.5(±18.6 SD) years; 48.5% (10875/22429) were male. Overall, US-borns had higher prevalence of overweight/obesity (69.8% vs 63.8.0%; p<0.05) and hypertension (32.6% vs 22.2%; p<0.05), but lower prevalence of diabetes (11.3% vs 12.4%; p<0.05), and hypercholesterolemia (39.3% vs 43.3%; p<0.05) compared to FB-born participants. The sex differences in the prevalence and the prevalence ratios of CVDRF are presented in Table 1. Conclusion: Males were more likely to be overweight/obese and be hypertensive than females regardless of place of birth. US-born males were more likely to be diabetic but less likely to have hypercholesterolemia compared to their female counterparts. It is important to consider place of birth when examining sex-differences in CVD risk in the US population.
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