Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Older Immigrants in the United States: A Comparison of Risk Measures.
Tina R Sadarangani, Deborah Chyun, Chau Trinh-Shevrin and 2 others
PMID 29727376WHAT IT FOUND
Three common cardiovascular risk tools gave very different estimates for older US immigrants without known coronary disease: 59% high risk by pooled cohort equation, 46% elevated risk by Framingham, and 23% had metabolic syndrome.
Key findings
0159% were high risk by the pooled cohort equation, 46% had elevated coronary risk by the Framingham risk score, and 23% had metabolic syndrome.
0240% reported hypertension and 36% were on hypertension medication; 17% reported diabetes and 16% were on diabetes medication; 24% were being treated for hypercholesterolemia.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design does not show cause. Hypertension and diabetes were based on self-report without medical records, so rates may be underreported. The study could not analyse meaningful differences among racial/ethnic subgroups; Asians were too small for subgroup analysis, and country of origin was missing in two of three cycles. Metabolic syndrome analysis was limited to the fasting subset.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists research support from a non-U.S. government. No author conflict-of-interest statement or funder role appears in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the 59% high-risk estimate as proof that most older immigrants need statins. The study compared existing risk calculators in survey data, not observed heart attacks or strokes, and the authors note the PCE can overestimate risk in diverse samples.