Physiological and Coronary Heart Disease Risk Markers in Young Black Men

Abstract

In a cross-sectional study we examined fasting blood lipids, glucose (BG) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels of Foreign-born Afro Caribbean American (FBCA, n=31) living in the US for less than 10 years, US-born Afro Caribbean American (USBCA, n=30), and African American (AA, n=30) men, ages 18–40 years. Socio-demographic data was collected. Total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), BG and hs-CRP were analyzed by standard procedures. There were no significant differences between the male ethnic groups for mean (±SD) of TC, LDL-C, HDL-C and BG levels. However, more USBCA (36.7%; 43.3%) and AA (26.7%; 26.7%) than FBCA (19.4%; 22.6%) had elevated TC (≥200 mg/dL) and LDL-C (≥130 mg/dL), respectively. Significantly (p< 0.01) more FBCA (48.4%) had low HDL-C (<40 mg/dL) compared to USBCA (20.0%) but not AA (36.7%) males. Elevated BG (≥110 mg/dL) was observed in 6.5% FBCA, 6.7% USBCA and 6.7% AA, whereas more AA (23.3%) had elevated hs-CRP (> 3.0 mg/L) levels than FBCA (10.7%) and USBCA (10.0%) males. We have demonstrated differences in CHD risk factors between different ethnic subgroups of the same racial group. The understanding of these differences will help healthcare professionals in the development of culturally sensitive programs and strategies for the improvement of health outcomes in this population.