Abstract

(1) Background: Sub-Saharan African migrants residing in high-income countries are more affected by cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and associated risk factors than host populations for unclear reasons. The aim was to explore the associations of religion and religious affiliations with CVD risk among Ghanaian non-migrants and migrants in Europe. (2) Methods: The 10-year CVD risk was estimated using pooled cohort equations for 3004 participants from the cross-sectional Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants (RODAM) study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess associations between religion and elevated CVD risk (score ≥ 7.5) with adjustment for covariates. (3) Results: Religious men in Europe had a lower 10-year CVD risk compared with non-religious men (adjusted OR 0.51; 95% confidence interval 0.30–0.85), specifically men affiliated with Seventh-Day Adventism (0.24; 0.11–0.53) followed by other affiliations (0.32; 0.11–0.94) and Roman Catholicism (0.42; 0.21–0.86). The opposite was found in Ghana, with religious women having higher odds for elevated 10-year CVD risk (1.53; 1.02–2.30) compared with their non-religious counterparts, specifically women affiliated with Reformed Christianity (1.73; 1.03–2.90) and other denominations (2.81; 1.20–6.54). Associations were not significant for men in Ghana and women in Europe. Adjustments for social support, stress, and health behaviors did not meaningfully alter the associations. (4) Conclusions: Christian religious Ghanaian men living in Europe seem to have lower CVD risk compared with their non-religious counterparts, while Christian religious women in Ghana appear to have increased CVD risk. Further unravelling the contributing factors and the differences between sex and environmental settings is needed.

Highlights

  • Fewer type-2 diabetes cases were detected among men practising religion in Ghana and Europe

  • This study revealed that practising Christian religion is associated with lower odds for elevated cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) risk among Ghanaian men living in Europe but not among men living in Ghana

  • Practising Christian religion was associated with higher odds of elevated CVD risk for women living in Ghana but not for women living in Europe

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Summary

Introduction

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) currently account for one in three deaths worldwide [1,2]. Around 80% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bringing a double burden of diseases to health systems that are already overstretched by communicable diseases [3]. The risk of developing CVDs is highly influenced by lifestylerelated factors such as a high consumption of unhealthy food, physical inactivity, tobacco 4.0/).

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